On Wednesday, oil prices went down for the second session as the unexpected soar of US crude oil inventories soured the market’s mood.
By 00.26 GMT, Brent crude oil futures dropped by 0.1% or 4 cents to USD44.25/barrel while the US WTI crude oil futures slipped by 0.1% or 6 cents to USD41.84/barrel.
On Wednesday, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that the US crude and distillate inventories surprisingly jumped, while the fuel demand fell last week as the US consumption was battered by the sharp increases in coronavirus cases.
In the week to July 17, US crude stockpiles soared by 4.9 million barrels to 536.6 million barrels, and production climbed by 100,000 bpd to 11.1 million bpd.
On Tuesday, the country posted more than 1,000 new deaths from coronavirus, for the first time since June 10. The Trump administration also refreshed the geopolitical tensions with China with an order to close its consulate in Houston.
Another factor bruising oil prices yesterday was the disappointing economic data from Japan. The country’s factory activity slumped for the 15th month in a row in July, signaling that the depressed economic performance might extend to the third quarter of this year.
