Oil prices held steady on Thursday as concerns about energy demand weighed against recent promises from Russia and Saudi Arabia to lower production.
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.1% to $76.56 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 0.1% to $71.81 a barrel. Both contracts are down more than 10% this year.
Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s biggest producers of crude, tried to goose prices at the start of the week by announcing an extension of their voluntary output cuts. That comes on top of other pledges from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce global oil supply.
It hasn’t worked. Concerns that demand for energy is weakening were reinforced on Wednesday by data showing China’s services sector expanded at the slowest pace in five months in June.
The decline in oil prices this year will have an impact on oil companies after they reported record profits in 2022.
Exxon Mobil
(ticker: XOM) issued a filing Wednesday warning that second-quarter profits fell sharply–they’ll come in at about $7.8 billion, compared to almost $18 billion in the same period last year. It publishes official results on July 28.
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