Oil prices retreat after report of US crude stockpile rise
Business
Brent futures fell 36 cents, or 0.47%, to $76.64 a barrel
BEIJING (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday as an industry report showed an increase in US crude stockpiles and tariff worries weighed on sentiment, paring back three days of gains driven by increasing Middle East tensions and intensifying sanctions.
Brent futures fell 36 cents, or 0.47%, to $76.64 a barrel by 0130 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude declined 37 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.95 a barrel.
The drops snapped a three-day streak of gains for prices with Brent climbing 3.6% while WTI rose 3.7%.
Crude oil stockpiles in the US, the world's biggest oil producer and consumer, rose by 9.4 million barrels in the week ending February 7, according to sources citing American Petroleum Institute data on Tuesday.
Gasoline inventories fell by 2.51 million barrels, and distillate stocks dropped by 590,000 barrels, the sources said the API data showed.
A Reuters poll on Tuesday showed respondents are expecting US crude oil and gasoline stockpiles to have risen last week, while distillate inventories likely fell.
Data from the Energy Information Administration will be release later on Wednesday.
The EIA increased its estimate for US crude production while leaving its demand forecast unchanged. It now expects US crude oil output to average 13.59 million barrels per day in 2025, up from its prior estimate of 13.55 million bpd.
A promise of a reset from BP as it reported quarterly profit of $1.17 billion on Tuesday.
Prices also slipped on concerns that multiple US tariffs being enacted or threatened could limit global economic growth and energy demand.
But market jitters over supply limited losses. Separate warnings by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US.
President Donald Trump that the ceasefire in Gaza would end if Hamas did not release Israeli hostages raised the spectre of renewed violence that could potentially destabilize the Middle East, a key oil producing region.
The tensions contributed to an over 1% surge in oil prices on Tuesday, along with US sanctions disrupting Russian oil flows to China and India and Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign on Iranian oil.
