Oil Prices Drop As Industry Data Shows Rising U.S. Crude Stocks

As industry statistics pointed to a far larger-than-anticipated increase in U.S. crude stocks, oil prices declined in early Asian trade on Wednesday, after plunging by more than $1 per barrel in the prior session.

By 01:11 GMT, Brent crude prices fell 20 cents to $85.38 per barrel, whilst U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 19 cents to $78.87 per barrel.

Approximately 10.5 million barrels were added to U.S. oil stocks for the week ending February 10, according to market sources quoting American Petroleum Institute data released on Tuesday.

The increase was far greater than the 1.2 million-barrel increase that nine analysts surveyed by Reuters had predicted, which may indicate a decline in gasoline consumption.

According to anonymous sources, gasoline inventories increased by around 846,000 barrels, while distillate inventories increased by approximately 1.7 million barrels.

Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. EST (0330 GMT) the government's official inventory estimates are due.

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) decision this week that it will sell 26 million barrels of oil from the nation's strategic reserve, which is already at its lowest level in about four decades, also weighed on crude prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) upped its 2023 global oil demand growth prediction for the first time in months in response to China's reopening, bolstering prices, and lowered supply expectations for key non-OPEC producers, signaling a tighter market.

OPEC forecasts that global oil consumption will increase by 2,32 million barrels per day (bpd) or 2.3% this year, an increase of 100,000 bpd since February.