London - Oil traded near the lowest closing level in seven
months as US gasoline supplies unexpectedly rose for a second week.
Futures were little changed in New York after slumping 3.7
percent Wednesday, the first drop in four sessions. Motor-fuel stockpiles expanded
by 2.1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration
reported. Most analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a decline. Crude
output climbed while nationwide inventories fell less than predicted.
Oil has declined almost 8 percent this month amid
speculation that rising US supplies will offset output curbs by the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia.
New production from OPEC rivals will be more than enough to meet demand growth
next year, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday in its first
forecast for 2018.
“Any build in US commercial stocks gives us an indication of
the uphill battle OPEC is facing,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil
Associates Ltd. in London. “Although last week the big bearish surprise came in
the form of significant builds across the board, this time around gasoline was
responsible for the consequences.”
Read also: Oil trades near one-month low
West Texas Intermediate for July delivery was at $44.70 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 3 cents, at 10:01 a.m. London
time. Total volume traded was about 46 percent above the 100-day average.
Prices dropped $1.73 to $44.73 on Wednesday, the lowest close since Nov. 14.
Brent for August settlement was up 10 cents at $47.10 a
barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices slid $1.72, or
3.5 percent, to $47 on Wednesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a
premium of $2.14 to August WTI.
US crude stockpiles dropped by 1.66 million barrels last
week, the EIA reported Wednesday. Inventories were forecast to decline by 2.45
million, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Production
rose by 12,000 barrels a day to 9.33 million barrels a day.
Oil-market news
The Qatar crisis is reverberating in Libya, inflaming
political divisions in the war-torn oil exporter and dragging commodity-trading
giant Glencore Plc into a dispute over crude sales. Iraq is driving
up crude-oil exports to the US, the world’s second-biggest import
market, just as there are signs Saudi Arabia is honoring a pledge to restrict
such deliveries, according to tanker-trackin.