Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Thursday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand. Hawkish comments from Fed officials and the European Central Bank have raised concerns that the central banks are not done with interest rate hikes yet, and more tightening is very likely in coming months to fight inflation. Traders were concerned that further U.S. interest rate hikes could hurt growth and push the economy into a recession and result in a fall in demand. Besides, an unexpected jump in gasoline inventories in the U.S. last week, and reports saying oil loading from Russia's Western ports in April is likely to rise to a near 4-year high also weighed on oil prices.
Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery fell $1.87 or 2.4 percent to settle at $77.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery dropped $2.02 or 2.43 percent to settle at $81.1 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.