WTI oil prices lost another 1.1 percent in trading Wednesday afternoon, heading back to $96 a barrel after a report showing that output from members of the OPEC rose to 31.26 million barrels a day in April, topping a revised March production figure of 30.85 million barrels a day.
Latest WTI Oil Price
US Light crude oil futures for June 2012 delivery was trading at $96.27 a barrel, 17.17 GMT today in trading on the NYMEX.
US Oil Inventories Rise
A weekly report from the US API (American Petroleum Institute) yesterday showed that US crude oil stockpiles rose by 7.78 million barrels to 378.2 million last week, however oil futures pared some losses after government data showed a bigger than expected drop in US fuel stockpiles.
But actual US crude oil inventories, however, rose 3.7 million barrels. Analysts had expected a smaller build of 2 million barrels.
Oil inventories remain at their highest level since 1990, amid weak demand and steadily rising production. Meanwhile, inventories at the US oil hub of Cushing, Okla., rose 1.1 million barrels to a record 44.1 million barrels, the EIA said on Wednesday afternoon.
“We’ve gotten build after build after build after build” in inventories, said Rich Ilczyszyn, chief market strategist at iiTrader in Chicago. “We know demand is waning a bit. We know that China is not firing on all cylinders.”
WTI oil prices remained firmly lower, extending the steepest sell off in crude this year. The last time NYMEX crude fell six sessions in a row was way back in January 2011 and prices could well fall further still.
“With oil price momentum heavily skewed to the downside, we look for the market to be highly sensitive to any crude stock builds larger than 3 million barrels.” US consulting oil firm Ritterbusch & Associates said in a note.
Originally posted here:
WTI oil price heads back to $96 a barrel as OPEC output rises
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