Global oil prices fall on surprise 5.3m barrel US inventory rise posted by API

Oil prices fell on Wednesday, with Brent falling back below $70 per barrel and US West Texas Intermediate crudes dipping below $65, pulled down by a report of increasing US crude inventories that surprised many traders.

US WTI crude futures were at $64.58 a barrel by 16:32, down 67 cents, or 1.03 percent, from their previous settlement.

Brent crude futures were at $69.75 per barrel, down 36 cents.

Traders said the dips came after the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Tuesday reported a surprise 5.3 million barrel rise in crude sticks in the week leading up to March 23, to 430.6 million barrels.

“We’ll see how the inventory data looks and whether these recent highs can be challenged again. For the moment, it is looking like both WTI and Brent are stalling,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

Wednesday’s price falls came despite top exporter Saudi Arabia saying it was working with top producer Russia on a historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Riyadh and Moscow were considering greatly extending a short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in crude prices.

“We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10 to 20 year agreement,” the crown prince told Reuters in an interview held in New York late on Monday.

In Asia, Shanghai crude oil futures saw their third day of trading continuing with high volume but also volatility. Spot Shanghai crude futures were down 3.75 percent at Wednesday’s close.