the sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the permian basin in loving county texas us november 22 2019 reutersangus mordantfile photo beijing jan 27 reuters  oil prices fell on thursday as investors cashed in profits from the 2 gains in the previous session after the us federal reserve indicated an interest rate hike in march leading to a technical correction in surging energy markets futures pulled back amid a broader decline in financial markets triggered by the march interest rate increase telegraphed by the fed and a surge in the us dollar crude prices have surged amid the tensions between ukraine and russia the worlds secondlargest oil producer that has fanned fears of disruptions of natural gas to europe read more brent crude futures slipped 31 cents or 03 to 8965 a barrel at 0122 gmt after jumping about 2 to hit 90 for the first time in seven years on wednesday us west texas intermediate wti crude futures also eased 26 cents or 03 to 8709 a barrel after gaining 2 in the previous session continued supply challenges and mounting russiaukraine tensions continue to support crude oil prices it is down slightly today but i think it is nothing more than a technical move said howie lee economist at ocbc in singapore while the russiaukraine tensions have a role in lifting oil prices real supply challenges both within opec and the us  have been the main drivers in pushing the market higher lee said referring to the organization of the petroleum exporting countries opec opec missed its planned supply increase target in december highlighting capacity constraints that are limiting supply as global demand recovers from the covid19 pandemic read more opec which includes opec and other allies such as russia is gradually relaxing 2020s output cuts as demand recovers from the demand collapse that year but many smaller producers cant raise supply and others have been wary of pumping too much in case of renewed covid19 setbacks an increase in crude oil and gasoline inventories in the united states the worlds biggest oil consumer alleviated some of the concerns about supply crude inventories rose by 24 million barrels in the week to jan 21 to 4162 million barrels compared with analysts expectations in a reuters poll for a 728000barrel drop the energy information administration eia said on wednesday read more gasoline stocks eci rose by 13 million barrels last week to 2479 million barrels the eia said the most since february 2021