Oil Closes Below $70 for Fourth Session as Stockpiles Accumulate - Bloomberg

Oil Closes Below $70 for Fourth Session as Stockpiles Accumulate - Bloomberg:

Crude settled below $70 a barrel for a fourth straight session as Saudi Arabia backed away from using its oil wealth as a diplomatic hammer and American inventories expanded at the fastest pace in more than a year and a half.

Futures added a nickel in New York on Monday. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih eased concern that the world’s biggest oil exporter would withhold supplies to counter any punishment over the killing of regime critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Any disruption to output from the Saudis or other major producers would be buffered by U.S. producers who have been pumping more than 10.5 million barrels a day since April. American crude stockpiles probably rose by 3 million barrels last week for the longest streak of weekly increases since March 2017, according to a Bloomberg survey.