Shafaq News/ The Basra crudes experienced mild price uptick for the third consecutive day this Thursday, despite a down trend in the global oil market.

Heavy Basra crude oil witnessed an increase of $0.34, or approximately 0.47%, settling at $72.69. The intermediate counterpart demonstrated a similar surge of $0.34, an equivalent rise of 0.45%, bringing its price to a $75.84.

Basra crude prices are particularly influenced by the central crude benchmarks such as Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and the crude oils of Dubai and Oman.

Consequently, the sales trajectory of Basra crude varies depending on the regions. For instance, it is sold to Asian markets in line with the prices of Dubai and Oman crudes, while it follows the Brent pricing in Europe, and is sold to the United States based on the WTI calculations.

Brent futures dropped by $2.22, or 2.9%, to $74.90 a barrel by 1336 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $2.19, or 3%, at $70.34.

The benchmarks erased gains from the previous session, during which U.S. corn and soybean prices raced to multi-month highs, raising expectations that crop shortfalls could lower biofuels blending and increase oil demand.

On Thursday the market was cautious after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said two more interest rate hikes of 25 basis points each by the end of the year was "a pretty good guess".

The Bank of England also raised interest rates by a bigger than expected half a percentage point to fight stubbornly high inflation. The increase was the central bank's 13th straight hike.

Equities, which often move in tandem with oil, were also down. Higher interest rates could slow economic growth and reduce oil demand.

Further price drivers include official U.S. oil inventory data due at 1430 GMT and Chinese factory activity data due next week.