Business
Brent Oil Holds Above $48 Barrel As US Stocks Hit High
Brent crude oil futures held above 48 dollars a barrel on Thursday as investor inflows offset data showing that US crude stocks went up.
Brent was up 26 cents at 48.73 dollars a barrel.
Meanwhile, US crude was trading at about 44.50 dollars a barrel, up five cents and off a six-year low hit on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said domestic crude stocks was nine million barrels per week to nearly 407 million, the highest level since the government records in 1982.
This pushed US crude futures to an intraday low of 44.08 dollars a barrel, the weakest level since April 2009, but Brent held up relatively well.
“It’s a tug of war between non-supportive fundamentals and investor flows – investors are more concerned about missing a potential bounce,” said Ole Hansen, senior commodity strategist at Saxo Bank.”
Analysts expect stockpiles to keep building as US production has shown no signs of slowing, and when refiners enter seasonal turnarounds, utilisation rates will fall.
In addition, the market structure induces traders to buy cheap crude to store, with the aim of selling it at a higher price for future delivery.
“With weak pricing and ‘contango’ structures across most U.S. grades, storage plays will continue to attract material into tanks.
“Until seasonal maintenance is out of the way there appears to be little spur to do otherwise,” analysts at Energy Aspects said in a note.
Some traders believe this buying to store has provided a “false bottom” in the market.
They also trust that when land storage gets filled, or floating storage economics no longer work, there will be another sell off in futures.
“Traders buying and putting oil into storage may be holding the price for now,” said Christopher Bellew, a broker at Jefferies Bache in London.
“I see the market as being in a consolidating phase … (but) at some point I expect a move to the downside.” He suggested Brent could test 40 dollars or go lower.
“My reason for being so bearish is the production war within OPEC as Saudi and Iraq both seek to maximise sales and US production has not yet started to slow.”
Saudi Arabia has said it is unwilling to balance the market alone and will maintain output in hopes low prices will drive higher-cost producers to cut their output.
Credit to Nigeria’s private sector rose to N83.26 trillion in June 2026 from N81.04 trillion in May, signifying a positive balance of N2.22 trillion month-on-month.
Year-on-year, the figure represents a nine per cent increase compared with the N76.13 trillion recorded in June 2025. The latest figures come as the CBN continues to balance efforts to control inflation with the need to support economic growth and expand credit to businesses.
The CBN data shows that credit to Nigeria’s private sector increased by approximately 2.74 per cent month-on-month between May and June 2026. Also, the CBN data noted that credit to the government fell slightly to N40.03 trillion from N40.38 trillion. Other assets, net, dropped to N10.76 trillion from N12.63 trillion.
The credit surge signifies sustained growth in lending to businesses and other private-sector borrowers during the month. The rise in private sector credit was recorded alongside an increase in net domestic credit, despite declines in credit to government and other assets.
Further analysis of the report says that compared with June 2025, private sector credit rose by about N7.13 trillion yea-on-year but net domestic credit increased by approximately N1.87 trillion during the month.
The CBN’s relatively tight monetary policy stance notwithstanding, more banks still loaded funds to the private sector within the period. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) held its 306th meeting on July 20 and 21.
The Committee reviewed recent developments in the global and domestic economies, assessed emerging risks to the outlook and considered their implications for monetary policy and retained all rates.
The Committee decided to retain the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 per cent; the Standing Facilities Corridor around the MPR at +50/-450 basis points and retain the Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) for Deposit Money Banks at 45.00 per cent, Merchant Banks at 16.00 per cent, and non-TSA public sector deposits at 75.00 per cent.
The MPC decision means that credit extension in the private sector will likely continue to rise because of rising confidence in the sector and calls by stakeholders for banks to invest in the private scetor instead of government securities.
