Oil remains under pressure after report shows increase in US inventories
Singapore — Oil markets were steady to lower on Wednesday after a report of rising US fuel and crude inventories underscored the concern that a three-year supply glut is far from over. Brent crude futures were at $46.67 a barrel at 3.29am GMT, close to their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 8c, or 0.2%, at $44.16 a barrel. Oil had recovered some ground over the past week after falling nearly 20% since mid-May, but a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that US crude inventories rose by 851,000 barrels in the week to June 23 to 509.5-million, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 2.6-million barrels. Petrol stocks rose by 1.4-million barrels even though the US summer driving season began a few weeks ago. The US inventory gains show global supply is still ample despite the effort by oil cartel Opec to cut output by 1.8-million barrels a day between January 2017 and March 2018. Ian Taylor, head of the world’s large...
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