Oil prices remain steady despite higher US crude inventories

WEB DESK: Global oil prices remained stable on Wednesday as key forecasts suggested a decline in global oil inventories in the latter half of 2024. However, gains were limited by an unexpected increase in US crude stockpiles.

As of 11:18 a.m. EDT (1518 GMT), Brent crude futures edged up by 13 cents, or approximately 0.16 per cent, to $82.05 per barrel. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures saw a modest rise of 6 cents, or around 0.08 per cent, to $77.96 per barrel.

This stability comes after a more than 2 per cent decline last week following announcements from OPEC and its allies about phasing out production cuts starting in October.

Contrary to market expectations, US crude inventories rose by 3.7 million barrels last week, reaching 459.7 million barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Analysts had anticipated a draw of one million barrels.

In addition to crude, gasoline stocks also exceeded expectations, increasing by 2.6 million barrels to 233.5 million barrels. This was significantly higher than the 900,000-barrel build predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Despite these short-term fluctuations, the EIA, the International Energy Agency (IEA), and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) all updated their 2024 outlooks this week, forecasting a decline in global oil inventories.

Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM noted that these long-term predictions highlight a tightening demand-supply balance in the global oil market.