Constant inflation and an increase in US crude stocks beyond expectations cause oil prices to decline

Constant inflation and an increase in US crude stocks beyond expectations cause oil prices to decline

When the markets started at 0000 GMT, Brent futures were down 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $82.48. US the West Texas region Intermediate (WTI) oil futures dropped to $77.65 per barrel, or 22 cents, or 0.3%.

Early Asian trade on Wednesday saw a decline in oil prices as investors tempered their expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest rate decrease and the US industry group revealed a larger-than-expected increase in crude oil stocks last week.

When the markets started at 0000 GMT, Brent products were down 29 cents, or 0.4%, at $82.48. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil futures dropped to $77.65 per barrel, or 22 cents, or 0.3%.

As per market sources quoting data provided late on Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute, US crude oil stocks increased by 8.52 million barrels for the week that concluded on February 9.

The build exceeded the expectations of experts surveyed by Reuters, who predicted a rise of 2.6 million barrels.

"Product declines largely offset the bearish crude oil growth," ING researchers said in a note, adding that the data was likely a consequence of BP's outage of the Whiting refinery, which produces 435,000 barrels of oil per day. ..According to API statistics, distillate stockpiles decreased by 4.02 million barrels and gasoline inventories decreased by 7.23 million barrels, both of which were greater drops than experts had predicted.

On Wednesday at 15:30 GMT, certified data from the US Energy Information Administration will be accessible.

The statistics from Tuesday, which revealed that consumer inflation in the US remained strong last month, also caused market anxiety. Investors now anticipate that Fed officials would hold off on reducing interest rates for longer, which may stifle economic expansion and oil consumption.

As chances of a rate decrease recede, the dollar reaches a three-month high. A stronger dollar usually affects the demand for oil among consumers purchasing with foreign currencies.