Oil Prices Pull Back As Focus Shifts To EIA Supply Data

Investing.com – Crude prices edged lower for the first time in three sessions on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer and how fast output levels will continue to rise.

New York-traded dipped 20 cents, or about 0.3%, to $65.31 a barrel by 4:10AM ET (0810GMT). The U.S. benchmark scored a 3.3% gain in the last session.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its for the week ended April 6 at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT), amid expectations for a decline of around 0.2 million barrels.

After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories last week.

The API report also showed a 2.0 million barrel increase in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks, which include motor diesel and heating oil, fell by about 3.8 million barrels.

There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.

Meanwhile, , the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., shed 21 cents, or roughly 0.3%, to $70.83 a barrel.

Brent surged , at $71.33 a barrel, boosted by the possibility of an American military strike on Syria.

While Syria is not a significant oil producer itself, the wider Middle East is the world’s most important crude exporter and tension in the region tends to put oil markets on edge.

There are also concerns that the United States could renew sanctions against Iran, a major Middle East oil producer.

In other energy trading, slipped 0.3% to $2.027 a gallon, while fell 0.3% to $2.058 a gallon.

inched up 0.4% to $2.667 per million British thermal units.

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