Crude Oil Prices Settle Lower as Stockpiles Build For Second Straight Week

Investing.com – WTI crude oil prices settled more than 2% lower after data showed U.S. crude stockpiles rose for the second-straight week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange for April delivery fell 2.32% to settle at $61.15 a barrel, while on London’s Intercontinental Exchange, fell 2.5% to trade at $64.16 a barrel.

Inventories of U.S. crude rose by 2.408 million barrels for the week ended March 2. While that was below expectations of 2.723 million barrels it was the second-straight weekly build in crude stockpiles, and added to fears that rising U.S. output may scupper OPEC’s efforts to rebalance oil markets.

The rise in crude inventories comes as refineries undergo seasonal maintenance, leading to a drop in demand for crude while raising the prospect of a build in supplies. Some market participants, however, expect crude draws in the U.S. will resume once refineries return from maintenance.

Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – by 788,000 barrels, missing expectations for a decline of 1.2 million barrels, while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and – by 559,000 barrels, missing expectations for a fall of 1.201 million barrels.

The less-than-expected drop in gasoline stockpiles was surprising to some after the API data on Tuesday estimated that gasoline inventories fell by as much as 4.536 million barrels.

Also weighing on sentiment was an ongoing uptick in U.S. production as the EIA said that weekly U.S. crude production rose to a record high per day of nearly 10.4 million barrels last week.

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