Oil Performance Varies after Sudden Rise in US Inventories
Analysts expect that the supply may not meet the recovering demand.
The performance of oil prices varied on Thursday as the selling operations that had received a boost from an unexpected increase in crude stocks in the United States eased, while analysts expect that the supply may not meet the recovering demand.
Brent crude fell eight cents to $78.56 a barrel, after falling 0.6% on Wednesday. US crude rose 11 cents to $74.94 a barrel after it also fell 0.6% in the previous session.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Wednesday that oil and fuel stocks in the United States increased last week.
Crude stocks rose 4.6 million barrels in the week ending September 24 to 418.5 million, according to EIA data, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.7 million barrel decline.
The two benchmarks rose earlier in the session, after two days of losses, while oil bulls are looking forward to the next barrier that the price will breach after Brent rose above $80 for the first time in three years on Tuesday.
Citigroup expects oil accounts to record a deficit of 1.5 million barrels per day on average over the next six months, even as supplies continue to increase.
Next week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, are expected to maintain a deal to add 400,000 barrels per day to their production in November.
The rise in US stocks comes at a time when production in the US Gulf of Mexico is back to near levels recorded before Hurricane Ida about a month ago. Production rose to 11.1 million barrels per day last week, but US drilling companies were in little hurry to open the oil taps after being criticized by shareholders for previous rapid and loose expansion.