London — Oil prices slipped on Wednesday, pulled down by a rise in US inventories and hopes that new investment could halt a plunge in Venezuela’s output. Benchmark Brent crude oil was down 20c at $75.75 a barrel by 7.50am GMT. US light crude was 10c lower at $68.43 a barrel. US crude inventories rose by 38,000 barrels to 405.7-million barrels in the week to August 24, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday. "The API reported surprisingly flat numbers to a market expecting a reasonable draw in crude and a build in products," said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of oil consultancy Trifecta. Official US fuel inventory and crude production data will be published later on Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Traders said reports of potential investment in Venezuela’s struggling oil production also affected markets. Venezuelan crude exports have halved since 2016 to below 1-million barrels per day (bpd). To stem tumbling output, Venezuelan state-run oil fi...
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