Oil prices edged up slightly today after yesterday’s big loss. Analysts see weak refinery margins as a major contributor to the recent oil price decline, with oil broker PVM’s Tamas Varga pointing to heating oil and gasoil as “the main possible culprit for the outsized weakness”. “Inventories in this product are somewhat reluctant to deplete, possibly due to resilient Russian exports,” Varga said. Russia continues to increase exports of refined products despite an EU embargo and oil price caps. Backwardation in the Brent futures curve has flattened over the last few weeks. WTI traded up $0.12 or 0.16% to close at $74.42. Brent traded up $0.18 or 0.23% to close at $77.87.