Investing.com – Crude prices turned lower on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. oil stockpiles rose much more than expected last week, while domestic production hit another all-time high.
New York-traded shed 20 cents, or roughly 0.3%, to $67.06 a barrel by 10:35AM ET (1435GMT). Prices were at around $67.31 prior to the release of the inventory data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by in the week ended April 27.
That compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 789,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply-gain of 3.4 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, rose by 416,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 436.0 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be in the lower half of the average range for this time of year.
Domestic oil production- driven by shale extraction – rose to a fresh all-time high of 10.61 million barrels per day last week. Only Russia currently produces more, at around 11 million bpd.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by , compared to expectations for a decline of 587,000 barrels. For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a drop of .
Meanwhile, , the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., declined 48 cents, or about 0.7%, to $72.64 a barrel, amid uncertainty about whether the U.S. will pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
President Donald Trump has until May 12 to decide whether to pull the United States out of a 2015 international accord to curb Iran’s nuclear program and restore sanctions on one of the world’s biggest oil producers.
If sanctions are reinstated, that could contribute to tighter global oil inventories, as it would likely result in a reduction of Tehran’s oil exports.
Iran is a major Middle East oil producer and member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
In other energy trading, fell around 0.9% to $2.067 a gallon, while was little changed at $2.101 a gallon.
were down 1.5% at $2.761 per million British thermal units.
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Source: Investing.com
