Oil prices fell on Wednesday, at the same time as an increase in US crude and gasoline inventories was recorded. Brent crude futures fell to $69.79 a barrel, about 17 cents less than the previous trading session, while West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped to $64.45 per barrel.
The market prices were impacted by a series of economic data showing an increase in gasoline and crude stocks. Crude oil inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 19, reaching a total of 416.2 million barrels per day after nine weeks of decline, the US Petroleum Institute claimed on Tuesday. Gasoline inventories jumped by 4.1 million barrels while crude oil refineries fell by 420,000 bpd. In Asia, refining profits fell to their lowest levels since 2015 due to increased supply of gasoline.
Given these indicators, traders are taking safety measures to protect themselves from a possible decline in crude prices. However, most of them say that oil prices are unlikely to fall further, as the markets are continuously supported by strong economic growth and supply constraints led by the OPEC and Russia.
According to data from the oil sector, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports rose to 7.016 million bpd in November, from 6.874 million bpd in October. On the other hand, the country’s crude output fell to 9.891 million bpd in November from 10.056 million bpd in October. Crude oil consumption in Saudi refineries rose to 2.778 million bpd in November from 2.687 million bpd in October, the data showed. At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports fell to 1.569 million bpd from the 1.598 million bpd recorded in October. Saudi demand for oil products fell to 2.159 million bpd from 2.353 million bpd in October.
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