oil futures were mixed early thursday with bulls taking a breather after crude ended the previous session at threemonth highs strong us gasoline demand remains a driver for oil futures analysts said the energy information administration on wednesday reported that gasoline inventories fell by 800000 barrels last week with implied demand jumping even as pump prices hit records with summer driving season under way in the us analysts said oil was likely to remain underpinned by tight product inventories “the ceo of the commodities trader trafigura believes that the oil price could possibly reach 150 per barrel in the near future the energy minister of the united arab emirates expressed a similar view saying that he believes that oil prices are nowhere near their peak yet it is no surprise then that market participants are driving prices ever higher in their exuberance” said carsten fritsch commodity analyst at commerzbank in a note key words oil prices could go ‘parabolic’ putting global economy in ‘critical situation’ says trafigura chief he warned against undue exuberance however “this is not generally the way to create a healthy basis for a longerterm development however so we would warn against simply perpetuating the current upswing” fritsch wrote arguing that the reaction to wednesday’s eia data in which traders latched on to the modest decline in gasoline inventories while ignoring a rise in crude and distillate stocks demonstrated how market participants are paying heed only to bullish news developments at the moment meanwhile crude was shaking off new covid19 lockdowns in shanghai oil was supported earlier in the week as shanghai and beijing began to lift some restrictions