Oil slips as demand worries outweigh U.S. stocks draw - Reuters

Oil slips as demand worries outweigh U.S. stocks draw - Reuters:

Oil prices slipped on Wednesday as concerns lingered over soft U.S. fuel demand while global producers feared a second prolonged wave of the coronavirus pandemic was a major risk for the market recovery.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles USOILC=ECI fell 1.6 million barrels last week, while fuel demand was down 14% from the year-ago period over the last four weeks, Energy Information Administration data showed.

“The drop in gasoline demand week-over-week was a concern. That’s still showing weakness,” said Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “The only thing that is holding us back is demand,” he said.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 13 cents at $45.33 a barrel by 12:32 p.m. ET (1632 GMT), but still not far off a five-month high above $46 a barrel reached earlier in August.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 fell 7 cents, or 0.2%, at $42.82 a barrel.