Oil prices slide on rising US stockpiles
seoul — Oil fell for a second day after industry data showed an increase in US crude stockpiles, stalling a rally driven by Saudi Arabian and Russian pledges to extend supply cuts.
Futures slid as much as 1.3 per cent in New York, extending a 0.4 per cent drop on Tuesday after the American Petroleum Institute was said to report that inventories rose last week. That may contrast with government data on Wednesday, which is forecast to show a decline.
“An unexpected increase in US crude oil stocks in the last reporting week announced by the API has depressed prices,” said Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. “This was attributable to strong growth in imports.”
West Texas Intermediate for June delivery fell as much as 63 cents to $48.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, and was at $48.50 at 10:17am in London. Prices closed at $48.66 on Tuesday, falling from $48.85 on Monday, the highest close since April 28. Total volume traded was about 30 per cent above the 100-day average.
Brent for July settlement dropped 8 cents, or 0.2 per cent, to $51.57 a barrel on the Londonbased ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract decreased 17 cents to settle at $51.65 a barrel on Tuesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a $2.72 premium to July WTI.
US crude stockpiles gained by 882,000 barrels in the week ended May 12, the API was said to report on Tuesday. Inventories probably slid by 2.67 million barrels, falling for a sixth week, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The nation’s drillers have been boosting output to the highest level since August 2015. — Bloomberg