Crude oil closes: supply concerns return to market focus Crude oil closed slightly higher

Concerns about tight supply have once again been in the spotlight, with crude oil futures recovering the previous day's losses and closing slightly higher
.
At the same time, natural gas prices continued their recent rally and closed sharply again
.

December futures for West Texas Intermediate crude rose 74 cents, or 0.
9 percent, to settle at $85.
32 a barrel, after falling nearly 0.
6 percent
on Monday.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark for December on the ICE European Futures Exchange, rose 26 cents, or 0.
3 percent, to $93.
52 a barrel, and the most actively traded January Brent crude futures rose 53 cents, or 0.
6 percent
, to $91.
74 a barrel.

Gasoline rose 6.
8 percent, to $2.
916 a gallon in November and heating oil rose 1.
2 percent, or $
3.
9672 a gallon, in November.
Natural gas prices rose 10.
00% to close at $5.
613/MMBtu in November, down 23% last week and up about 13%
so far this week.

Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group, said in a daily report: "In the short term, oil prices will be in a somewhat narrow trading range
.
" "We are still in the off-season and are still affected
by concerns about the global economy and interest rates.
"

Meanwhile, the oil market "tried to ignore the dollar, but it couldn't
.
" When the dollar shows strength, it puts downward pressure
on oil.
Still, as the market moves into winter, "we're going to see a disconnect between the dollar/oil relationship because oil will be needed
.
" ”

Oil prices fell on Monday amid investor concerns about the outlook for crude oil demand after poor data on China's imports in September and aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and other major central banks to curb stubborn inflation
.

Analysts at Sevens Report Research wrote in Tuesday's newsletter that "negative news from China and weak U.
S.
economic data are negative
for the demand side of oil.
" However, in Monday's trading, "hopes of a hawkish policy peak boosted risk assets.
"

Commerzbank analysts wrote in a note that although China's oil imports rose to 9.
8 billion barrels in September, imports since the beginning of the year are still down 4.
3 percent
from a year earlier.

"The 12-month moving average was 9.
9 million barrels per day, below 10 million barrels
per day for the second consecutive month.
The last time this happened was three years ago
.
As a result, China's crude imports will decline for the second year in a row, despite signs of recovery over the past two months and the likely increase in imports in the coming months," they wrote
.

Analysts at Sevens Report Research said the new trading range for oil prices is "between support above $70 and resistance below $90 as traders assess the outlook
for demand amid heightened recession fears but tight global supply dynamics.
" ”

WTI crude oil prices are down about 35% from March highs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, and Brent crude prices are down almost 33%.

Crude oil prices have been in volatile territory in recent weeks
.

The U.
S.
Energy Information Administration will release U.
S.
oil supply data
for the week ended Oct.
21 on Wednesday morning.
Accept S&; On average, analysts surveyed by P Global Commodity Insights expect crude oil inventories to fall by 800 million barrels, gasoline inventories by 1.
6 million barrels and distillate inventories by 1.
5 million barrels
.