Oil Steadies With Report Pointing to Shrinking U.S. Inventories - Bloomberg

Oil Steadies With Report Pointing to Shrinking U.S. Inventories - Bloomberg

PRICES

West Texas Intermediate for September delivery was little changed at $68.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange by 10:04 a.m. in London. Brent for October settlement was steady at $70.63 on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, after gaining 2.3% on Tuesday. Oil was steady after jumping the most in almost three weeks as an industry report pointed to shrinking U.S. gasoline and crude inventories. Futures in New York traded near $68 a barrel after closing 2.7% higher on Tuesday. The American Petroleum Institute reported motor fuel stockpiles fell by 1.11 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. That would be the fourth weekly draw, the longest run of declines since September, if confirmed by official figures due later Wednesday. The fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus is taking its toll on Asia’s economies and impacting the crude appetite of some oil refiners in the region, although Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicts the latest Covid-19 wave will affect demand for only two months, consistent with prior cycles.