A rise in interest rates will depress oil demand as the price of oil falls for the fourth day in a row.

A barrel of the European reference oil, Brent, costs USD 81.57 on Thursday morning compared to USD 82.44 on Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil traded at USD 77.16 compared to USD 78.26 on Wednesday afternoon.

Concerns were heightened by the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate meeting on May 1, according to the Reuters news agency. It stated that the US central bank’s approach to persistent inflation is to maintain the key interest rate for longer and that it may be necessary to raise interest rates to tackle persistent inflation.

Oil prices were further weighed down by the prospect of an increase in supply as US crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels last week against expectations of a 2.5 million barrel increase.

European commodity markets also saw a build-up in supply due to Russia exceeding its April production quota agreed with the other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, OPEC+. The overrun was due to ”technical errors” and the Russian government will soon present a compensation plan to OPEC+.

On the other commodity markets, a troy ounce of gold cost USD 2,372.92 on Thursday morning compared to USD 2,388.46 on Wednesday afternoon.