Oil slips below $80 on rising US stockpiles
US crude inventories post their fourth weekly increase as Iran oil exports decline ahead of November’s US sanctions
London — Oil slipped below $80 a barrel on Thursday as the fourth weekly increase in US crude inventories suggested ample supply, while Saudi-US tension and falling Iranian exports lent support. US crude inventories rose 6.5-million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday, the fourth straight weekly increase and almost three times what analysts had forecast. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down 50c at $79.55 a barrel at 8.40am GMT. It has dropped more thasn $7 from a 2014 high of $86.74 reached on October 3. US crude was down 28c at $69.47. “Stocks are building,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at PetroMatrix. “It’s a continuous trend. Week after week, it does start to add up.” Oil has been rising this week on concern about a decline in Iranian exports due to US sanctions and tension between the US and Saudi Arabia after the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. US lawmakers pointed the finger at the Saudi leadership over the disa...
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