Oil prices are falling slightly on Friday after rising in the previous session due to data on the decline in US stocks.
Commercial oil inventories in the United States last week decreased by 2.55 million barrels, the country’s Energy Ministry said on Thursday. Commercial gasoline stocks fell by 2.28 million barrels, distillate stocks by 1.73 million barrels.
The cost of August futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:20 a.m. is $85.63 per barrel, which is $0.08 (0.09%) lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Thursday, these contracts rose in price by $0.64 (0.8%) to $85.71 per barrel, the highest since April 30.
Futures for WTI for August in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.06 (0.07%) to $81.23 per barrel by this time. As a result of the previous session, the value of these contracts increased by $0.58 (0.7%) to $81.29 per barrel.
Since the beginning of this week, both Brent and WTI have risen in price by about 4%.
The oil market is supported by signals of growing demand for petroleum products in the country, in addition to data on declining stocks in the United States. According to the American Automobile Association, a record number of Americans will travel this year during the US Independence Day holidays.
“In general, the inventory data shows that the oil market is shrinking,” said Vivek Dhar, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, as quoted by Bloomberg. – “The key risk that could lead to a decline in oil prices in the short term is the possibility of a weaker-than-expected increase in oil demand in China.
