The first month Brent failed to reach a series of two consecutive days of higher settlements in the last three weeks and only achieved a higher day high in two days in the last two weeks. Brent for the first month stood at $ 98.48 a barrel on April 11, losing $ 9.05 a barrel and just $ 1.64 a barrel higher than February 23, the day before Russia invaded Ukraine while WTI fell by 8.99 USD / barrel. will be settled at 94.29 USD / barrel on April 11. Sanctions on oil are still coming In an earlier oil price update released a few weeks ago, Standard Chartered commodity experts had warned that the market could soon face a 3mb / d supply deficit partly due to self-sanctions and also due to the possibility of banning Russian oil imports. This was certainly seen in the realm of possibility given the global outrage that followed the appearance of gloomy images from the city of Bucha near Kyiv, including a mass grave and the bound bodies of people who had been shot at close range. But StanChart has now lowered its uptrend slightly. Experts now say that while sanctions against Russian oil are likely to remain at the top of the EU’s political agenda in the coming months, a full ban is unlikely. Instead, StanChart says the EU is likely to consider various interim measures, including tariffs and the use of guaranteed funds, in such a way that Russia will not be able to access all of its export revenues. However, experts do not seem to agree on the Russian perspective. StanChart has forecast an annual decline to the annual average of 1.61mb / d, good for a consecutive fall of 3mb / d from pre-invasion levels. The ILO expects Russia’s crude production to fall by 1.65 b / d, the EIA expects growth of 56 kb / day, the OPEC Secretariat has revised Russia’s production by 530 kb / d, although it still forecasts an increase of 433 b / d, lower than the output of OPEC + cut the relaxation program. The American Petroleum Institute (API) said crude inventories rose 7.8 MB, compared with the DOE’s expectation of 0.9 MB per week. Cushing crude stockpiles rose 0.4mb per week, according to the API. The API reported that gasoline inventories fell by 5.1mb, compared to the DOE’s expectation of a 0.4mb per week tie. The API reported that diesel inventories fell by 5.0mb, compared to DOE’s expectation of a 0.5mb per week tie. Overall, the API showed 2.3mb per week in oil and petroleum products, relative to the DOE’s expectation of stable weekly stocks. The API data is up, in relation to the DOE expectations. Meanwhile, drilling activity in US shale deposits is gradually increasing. The number of oil rigs in the US increased by 13 w / w to a two-year high of 546, according to the latest Baker-Hughes research. The number of oil rigs has increased by 51 in the last 10 weeks compared to 34 in the previous 10 weeks. Texas accounted for most of the latest increase in weight in oil extraction activity, with the number of oil rigs across the state gaining 10 b / w to 305. Among the Permian sub-basins Delaware activity increased by two to 169 platforms, Midland activity increased by six to 131 platforms and Permia’s other activities increased by a single platform to 30 platforms. The number of gas platforms in the US increased by three b / w to a 29-month high of 141, with the number of gas platforms in the Haynesville field reaching a nine-year high of 70 platforms. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More top readings from Oilprice.com: