Oil prices slide on the build-up of US stocks and losses on the equity rally



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An oil platform Petrobras floats in the Atlantic Ocean near Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro.

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Oil prices resumed their slide on Wednesday, dragged down after an unexpected gain in US stocks, but with losses capped by a recovery in global equities in hopes of a Fed rate cut.

Brent futures were down 18 cents to 61.79 dollars a barrel around 7:20 pm (1120 GMT). Texas Intermediate US crude is down 46 cents to 53.02 dollars a barrel.

US stocks of crude rose unexpectedly last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories rose more than expected, data from the American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday.

Crude inventories increased by 3.5 million barrels over the past week to 478 million barrels on May 31, while analysts forecast a decrease of 849,000 barrels.

The official numbers of the US Energy Information Administration are expected later Wednesday.

"Stockpiling does not help investor morale in today's market environment," said ING Bank.

Oil prices fell sharply because of fears of a slowdown in demand, but got a respite on Tuesday after the rally in global stock markets in the hope that the Federal Reserve could cut rates in the US. 39; interest. Shares rose Wednesday.

"The recovery recorded yesterday by the stock market rally was halted by an unexpected rise in inventories of crude oil and US products," said Commerzbank.

The oil market was weighed down by worries over slowing global growth due to the US-China trade war and President Donald Trump's threats last week to put Mexican import tariffs on the table .

To prevent oversupply and support the market, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, have stopped production since the beginning of the year.

The group will set its policy when it meets later this month or early July.

The head of oil giant Rosneft, Igor Sechin, said Tuesday that Russia should pump as it pleases and that it would seek compensation from the government if the cuts were extended.

Russia's average oil output was 10.87 million barrels a day from June 1 to 3, compared with an average of 11.11 million bpd in May, two sources close to official data said.

This decline follows the discovery in mid-April of Ural contaminated crude oil in the Druzhba pipeline to Europe.

Pressures on oil prices and OPEC's efforts to tighten the market have led to a surge in US production, which has reached unprecedented levels, leading to increased exports of crude oil.

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