Oil prices fall after US stockpiles rise

Oil prices fall after US stockpiles rise

[ad_1]

Oil prices fell after a bigger-than-expected jump in U.S. crude inventories raised concerns about demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.

About this writes Reuters.

Brent crude oil futures fell by $0.34 to $81.26 per barrel. At the same time, the futures for American WTI crude oil fell by $0.38 to $76.26 per barrel.

Both contracts lost more than $1 a barrel on Feb. 14 under pressure from rising U.S. crude inventories as refining fell to its lowest level since December 2022.

Also, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories jumped 12 million barrels to 439.5 million barrels in the week to February 9, well above analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll, which had forecast a rise of 2.6 million barrels. barrels

“While the increase in inventories raised concerns among traders about demand, some analysts said the move was largely driven by lower refinery utilization levels, particularly at BP’s Indiana plant,” it said.

However, EIA data also showed that gasoline and distillate stocks fell more than expected. Gasoline inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels to 247.3 million barrels, against an expected decline of 1.2 million barrels.

It is added that Kazakhstan announced compensation for overproduction of oil in January for the next four months, in accordance with its obligations under OPEC+. Iraq also said it would review its oil production and address excess production beyond the OPEC+ voluntary cuts within the next four months, if found.

Economic truth.

[ad_2]

Original Source Link