Oil prices weighed down as U.S. inventory gains revive glut worries
Wednesday,
28-Jun-2017
09:34 AM (IST)
Oil markets were steady to lower on Wednesday after a report of rising U.S. fuel and crude inventories underscored concerns that a three-year supply glut is far from over. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $46.67 per barrel at 0329 GMT, close to their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 8 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $44.16 per barrel. Oil had recovered some ground over the past week after falling nearly 20 percent since mid-May, but a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that U.S. crude inventories rose by 851,000 barrels in the week to June 23 to 509.5 million, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 2.6 million barrels. Gasoline stocks rose by 1.4 million barrels even though the U.S. summer driving season began a few weeks ago. The U.S. inventory gains show global supplies are still ample despite the effort by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) between January 2017 and March 2018.
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