Crude oil prices fell for a sixth day on Thursday on mounting worries about slower fuel demand amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections worldwide and an unexpected increase in US gasoline inventories. The international benchmark Brent lost 85 cents (1.3%) to $67.38 per barrel by 0019 GMT, while US WTI crude dropped 93 cents (1.4%) to $64.53 per barrel. On Wednesday, Brent fell 1.2%, while WTI tumbled 1.7%. Both benchmarks have dipped over 5% in the last six sessions.
Investors worry that the spike of COVID-19 cases involving the highly infectious delta variant in some countries could hurt fuel demand. Some economic indicators pointed to slower growth in China as it imposes strict measures to combat the diseases. Some weaknesses have also been observed in some US economic sectors. The US Fed also signalled that it was preparing to begin tapering asset purchases, which could boost the dollar and hurt commodity prices.
Adding pressure to prices, data from the Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected rise in US gasoline stocks. The US had 228.2 million barrels of gasoline in inventories last week, increasing by 696,000 barrels from the prior week, compared to analysts’ expectations for a 1.7 million-barrel decline. However, US crude stocks decreased 3.2 million barrels last week to 435.5 million barrels.
