U.S. Oil Prices Hold Near 2-Month Lows Amid Rising Stockpiles

Investing.com – Crude prices inched higher in early action on Thursday, but held near two-month lows hit in the prior session as concerns over a rise in U.S. oil inventories and record weekly domestic production weighed.

was up 25 cents, or around 0.4%, at $65.00 a barrel at 3:35AM ET (0735GMT).

at $64.73, for the lowest finish since April 9, pressured by a surprise jump in weekly U.S. crude supplies.

U.S. oil inventories rose by in the week to June 1 to 436.5 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts had forecast a decline of 2.0 million barrels.

Domestic oil production – driven by shale extraction – hit a record of 10.8 million barrels per day (bpd), according to the EIA’s weekly report. Only Russia currently produces more, at around 11 million bpd.

Elsewhere, futures were up 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.80 a barrel, supported by plunging exports by OPEC-member Venezuela.

Venezuela’s state-owned PdVSA is reportedly with crude oil buyers, essentially declaring they cannot be fulfilled as output from its oil fields has tanked and bottlenecks are slowing down exports at the ports.

Venezuela’s supply trouble comes amid voluntary production cuts by OPEC which have been in place since 2017 in order to tighten the market and prop up prices.

The group is due to meet at its headquarters in Vienna, together with non-OPEC member Russia, on June 22 to discuss production policy.

Prices in recent sessions have declined on concerns that OPEC and non-OPEC members led by Russia would decide to lift output by up to 1 million barrels a day as early as this month in reaction to lost supplies out of Venezuela and Iran.

Meanwhile, Brent’s premium over WTI futures remained near three-year highs above $10 a barrel. The premium has doubled in less than a month, as surging U.S. production and a lack of pipeline capacity has trapped a lot of output inland.

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