U.S. crude oil inventories increased in the week ending Oct. 26, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased by 3.2 million barrels during last week. At 426.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 2 percent above the five-year average for this time of year.
In the previous week ending Oct. 19, EIA reported a buildup of 6.3 million barrels of U.S. crude oil inventories, which was over the market forecast of 3.7 million barrels and caused concerns on demand side.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 3.2 million barrels last week. Distillate fuel inventories decreased by 4.1 million barrels last week. Total commercial petroleum inventories decreased by 6.4 million barrels last week.
U.S. oil prices declined further on Wednesday.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery fell by 1.6 percent to settle at 65.31 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent oil futures for delivery in January 2019 fell by 1.5 percent to 74.78 dollars a barrel on the London-based ICE.
Editor:Cherie
