Oil prices are falling on Thursday on the back of data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which showed a steady increase in US stocks.
According to API estimates, US oil reserves jumped by 12.94 million barrels in the week ended October 6, the highest since early January.
The official report of the US Department of Energy on energy reserves in the country will be released on Thursday at 18:00 GMT.
The cost of December futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:15 a.m. is $85.6 per barrel, which is $0.22 (0.26%) lower than at the close of the previous session. On Wednesday, the price of these contracts fell by $1.83 (2.1%) to $85.82 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for November in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.32 (0.38%) to $83.17 per barrel by this time. As a result of previous trading, the value of these contracts decreased by $2.48 (2.9%) to $83.49 per barrel.
Traders are focused on the situation in the Middle East. Israel is not a major oil producer, but investors fear an escalation of the conflict in the region, given media reports that Hamas’ actions against Israel were planned with the assistance of Iran.
“Currently, the risks to the oil market are low,” says Brian Swan, chief commodities analyst at Schneider Electric. – “However, there is a slight possibility of a price increase as the US closely assesses Iran’s ties to Hamas.
“If Washington decides to restrict Iran’s oil exports more tightly, it could change the market situation,” Market Watch quotes Swan as saying.
