Oil prices slid between Wednesday and Thursday trading hours CET but are now slowly rising again as market players take stock of the situation, including concerns about central banks raising interest rates further – policy that would likely mute economic growth and oil demand.

A barrel of European reference oil Brent trades Thursday morning CET at USD 80.96 against USD 81.44 Wednesday afternoon. US counterpart West Texas Intermediate sells at the same time for USD 74.27 against USD 74.76 Thursday afternoon.

Minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting show a consensus among members of the Federal Open Market Committee about high inflation being a persistent factor in monetary policy, also entailing warnings about further rate hikes, reports Reuters.

Crude prices are also affected by indications of additional volume accruement in US oil inventories. American Petroleum Institute data show US stockpiles having gained 9.9 million barrels last week – markedly more than poll estimates forecasting a rise of 2.1 million barrels compiled by the news agency.

US inventories have increased every week since mid-December, thus stoking concerns about fuel demand.

Official oil stockpile data from the US Energy Information Administration are scheduled for release Thursday afternoon CET.