Thursday morning, oil prices stay on the same price level as Wednesday afternoon following cuts in US crude inventories and a statement from the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that further interest rate increases are coming.

A barrel of European reference oil Brent trades at USD 76.91 per barrel on Thursday, up from USD 76.76 Wednesday afternoon. Meanwhile, US counterpart West Texas Intermediate trades at USD 72.33 against 72.22 the day prior.

Prices are kept up by cuts in US crude inventories of 1.2 million barrels last week, according to numbers from American Petroleum Institute, which is the largest US industry association for the oil and natural gas industry, reports Reuters.

Official numbers on the US crude inventories are expected later on Thursday.

Meanwhile, in his presentation of Fed Reserve’s monetary policy to the US Congress, Powell made it clear that the central bank’s focus is to fight inflation and that two additional raises of 25 basis points to the interest rate could be effectuated prior to year’s end.

Higher interest rates will increase lending costs for consumers, having a negative effect on the economic growth and ultimately the demand for oil.

According to Reuters, oil prices could however increase as the cuts in US inventories come parallel to production cuts at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and its allies.