Oil falls on news of Saudi-Russian deal to raise output
The biggest increase in US stocks in about 19 months also put pressure on crude prices
Singapore — Oil prices fell on Thursday from the four-year highs reached the previous session, pressured by rising US inventories and after sources said Russia and Saudi Arabia had struck a private deal in September to raise crude output. Brent crude oil futures were trading at $85.85 a barrel at 1.04am GMT, down 44c or 0.5% from their last close. Brent hit a four-year high of $86.74 a barrel on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 30c 0.4% at $76.11 a barrel. “Data for last week showed a much more significant than expected … build in US commercial crude (inventories), which generally suggests that oil prices should tumble,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading for Asia-Pacific at futures brokerage Oanda in Singapore. US crude oil stocks rose by nearly 8-million barrels last week to about 404-million barrels, the biggest increase since March 2017, Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday. US weekly Midwest refinery utilisation rates dr...
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