Oil edges lower as traders watch for jump in US crude stockpiles
Oil prices slipped on Wednesday as traders eyed a potential jump in U.S. crude inventories, awaiting official weekly inventory data later in the day.
Brent crude futures fell 34 cents, or 0.5%, to $66.3 a barrel by 0812 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped 32 cents, or 0.5%, to $63.35.
Crude stocks were up by 4.3 million barrels in the week ended May 9, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, while gasoline inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels and distillate stocks fell by 3.7 million barrels.
The slight retreat in crude prices this morning was the function of a surprise crude build, said PVM analyst Tamas Varga.
The fall in gasoline inventories comes as countries get ready to enter the Northern Hemisphere summer driving season.
Roth Capital Markets analysts in a note late on Tuesday said that the draw in products shown in API data was positive for the oil complex in the longer term as it shows that the oil market was under-supplied.
Official weekly inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration is due on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).
U.S. crude oil and gasoline stocks likely fell last week, distillate inventories likely rose and gasoline stocks potentially decreased, an extended Reuters poll found ahead of the data.
Rystad Energy's global head of commodity markets Mukesh Sahdev said preventing oil price spikes over the summer travel season will be a key part of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda on his trip to the Gulf.
The United States could take advantage of lower prices to buy more Middle East crude for its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he added.
"The big unknown for the market is how U.S. actions related to Iran, Russia and Venezuela will result in supply disruptions or additions," Sahdev said. – Source: Reuters –