Oil prices are experiencing slightly upward trends following the reinstatement of US sanctions on the Maduro government in Venezuela. However, the increase is tempered both by concerns about this year's global demand and indications that a broader conflict in the key Middle Eastern production could be avoided. These are the reasons why prices plummeted by about 3% yesterday.

Brent futures contracts rose by 29 cents, or 0.3%, to $87.58 per barrel, while US crude futures contracts were up by 20 cents, or 0.2, at $82.89 per barrel at 06:13 GMT. 

It is worth noting that analysts at JP Morgan emphasised in their notes that global oil consumption up until April was 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) below forecasts, averaging 101 million bpd. Since the beginning of the year, demand has increased by 1.7 million bpd, compared to its forecast of 2 million bpd. 

At the same time, investors believe that Israel will not respond firmly to the missile and drone attack by Iran on April 13th.

"Brent has now returned to levels before the April 1st attack on the Iranian consulate, indicating that the recent period of increased risk insurance due to heightened Israel-Iran tensions has eased," said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights.

Increasing crude inventories in the US are another factor restraining prices. Oil inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels to 460 million barrels in the week ending April 12th, nearly double of analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for 1.4 million barrels.