AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 127.04 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BOP 6.67 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
CNERGY 4.51 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DFML 41.44 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DGKC 86.85 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FCCL 32.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 64.80 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUBC 109.57 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUMNL 14.68 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KEL 5.05 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
KOSM 7.46 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
MLCF 41.38 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
NBP 60.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
OGDC 190.10 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PAEL 27.83 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PIBTL 7.83 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PPL 150.06 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PRL 26.88 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.07 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
SEARL 86.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TELE 7.71 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TOMCL 35.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TPLP 8.12 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TREET 16.41 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
TRG 53.29 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
UNITY 26.16 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
WTL 1.26 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 10,010 Increased By 126.5 (1.28%)
BR30 31,023 Increased By 422.5 (1.38%)
KSE100 94,192 Increased By 836.5 (0.9%)
KSE30 29,201 Increased By 270.2 (0.93%)
Markets

Oil tumbles on surprise build in US crude inventories

NEW YORK: Oil futures slid on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settling 3 percent lower after government data showed a sur
Published 16 Aug, 2018 01:02am

NEW YORK: Oil futures slid on Wednesday, with U.S. crude settling 3 percent lower after government data showed a surprise weekly increase in domestic crude stockpiles, compounding worries about the global economic growth outlook.

U.S. crude futures settled at $65.01 a barrel, down $2.03, or 3 percent. Brent crude futures were down $1.70, or 2.35 percent, at $70.76 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories last week rose 6.8 million barrels even though refinery crude runs hit a record high, Energy Information Administration data showed. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures rose 1.6 million barrels.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a weekly decline.

"Crude oil processing increased sharply and reached a record level of almost 18 million barrels per day last week," said Carsten Fritsch, senior commodities analyst at Commerzbank. "But this was not enough to prevent the inventory build. Or take it this way; it prevented an even larger build."

"Adding to the weakening price backdrop are signs that a deepening trade spat between the United States and China is undermining oil demand."

Investors are concerned about the world economy as trade disputes escalate between the United States and its major trading partners.

The OECD's composite leading indicator, which covers the western advanced economies plus China, India, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa, slipped below trend in May and June.

World trade volume growth peaked in January, and since then has nearly halved to less than 3 percent by May, according to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.

The United States and China have been locked in a trade battle for months, pressuring economic activity in both countries.

Chinese importers appear to be shying away from buying U.S. crude oil as they fear Beijing may decide to add the commodity to its tariff list.

Not a single tanker has loaded crude oil from the United States bound for China since the start of August, Thomson Reuters Eikon ship tracking data showed, compared with about 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June and July.

Investors were also watching the impact of U.S. sanctions on Tehran, which analysts say could remove as much as 1 million bpd of Iranian crude from the market by next year.

BMI Research said oil markets would "struggle for direction, as uncertainty around both the impact on supply from the Iranian sanctions and escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China persists".

Copyright Reuters, 2018

Comments

Comments are closed.