WTI retreats from fresh one-month high

Crude oil prices are retreating after reaching fresh three-month highs. The West Texas Intermediate crude hit an intraday high of $123.66, and now is trading at around $119.38.

The initial price rally came after the OPEC+ reported that it produced a total of 28.5 million barrels per day in May, down by 176K bpd compared to April.

The group´s Monthly Oil Market Report also showed that members expect demand to keep rising, while down revised Russian liquid output forecast by 250K bpd, which means they expect the country’s production to contract by 170 bpd on the year.

Furthermore, OPEC is hopeful that the Chinese decision to lift lockdown measures should increase imports from the country.

Crude oil also turned south with Wall Street’s opening, as US indexes extend their bearish route amid concerns of a US recession and ahead of the US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

The US central bank has been widely anticipated to hike the benchmark rate by 50-bps, although the latest inflation figures pushed market players to lift their bets, now anticipating a 75-bps hike.