By Nicole Jao
(Reuters) – Oil prices slipped in early Asian trading on Wednesday following a brief rebound in the previous session after industry data showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories, offsetting global oil supply concerns.
Brent crude futures fell 21 cents, or 0.27%, to $76.27 a barrel by 0020 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 25 cents, or 0.34%, to $72.95 per barrel.
U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories rose last week, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. [API/S]
Benchmarks slipped accordingly. Both WTI and Brent had bounced off multi-month lows to settle higher in the previous session.
The API figures showed crude stocks were up by 176,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 2, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected crude stocks to fall by 700,000 barrels.
Gasoline inventories rose by 3.313 million barrels against analysts’ expectations for a 1 million bbl draw, while distillate stocks rose by 1.217 million barrels, a bigger build than anticipated.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is due to release weekly inventory data at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
On Monday, Brent futures slumped to their lowest since early January and WTI futures had touched their lowest since February, as a global stock market rout deepened on growing concerns of a potential recession in the U.S., the world’s largest petroleum consumer.
However, both benchmarks broke a three-session declining streak on Tuesday as tensions in the Middle East stoked supply concerns, supporting prices.
Iran’s vow of retaliation against Israel and the U.S. following the killing of two militant leaders has raised concerns that a wider war is brewing in the Middle East.
“Any escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could see a greater risk of disruptions to supplies from the region,” ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.
Lower production at Libya’s 300,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Sharara oilfield is also adding to concerns of supply shortages.
Global oil inventories decreased by around 400,000 bpd in the first half this year, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates published on Tuesday. It expects stockpiles to decline by around 800,000 bpd in the second half of the year. [EIA/M]
(Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York; Editing by Sonali Paul)
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