Oil prices fell on Wednesday, retreating after a two-day rally following an unexpectedly large build in United States (US) crude inventories, while supply disruptions in the Middle East lingered.
Brent crude futures fell $1.22, or 0.67%, to $107.53 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were down $1.64, or 1.55%, at $104.19 a barrel.
Both benchmarks settled more than $3 higher and at their highest levels since May 19 on Tuesday, as the Yanbu loading suspension stoked supply concerns and Saudi Arabia cut oil shipments to Europe.
US crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories all rose last week, market sources said on Tuesday, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute.
Crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels in the week ended September 11, the sources said, citing Application Programming Interface (API) data. That compared with analysts’ expectations for a draw of about 1.6 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll.
API’s data showed unexpected builds in gasoline and diesel inventories have weighed on prices, but regional stock increases do not change the underlying tightness in the global crude market, Haitong Futures said in a note.
–Reuters–
