(London) Crude prices are rising on Wednesday, driven by the first weekly figures on US crude inventories showing a decline in stocks last week, pending official data.
At around 5:25 a.m. ET, the price of a barrel of North Sea Brent crude for September delivery was up 0.86% to $81.71.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), for delivery the same month, rose by 0.91% to 77.66 dollars.
On Tuesday, the API, the American industry association, reported a decline in commercial crude inventories of about 3.86 million barrels last week, and of 2.77 million barrels for gasoline last week.
“We are seeing a first market turnaround and a rise in prices thanks to new data showing once again a decline in inventory levels in the United States,” explain analysts at Energi Danmark.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) weekly oil inventory status report for the week ended July 19 is due later Wednesday.
Analysts are predicting a sharp drop in crude oil stocks, but a slight increase in gasoline stocks.
If “the generalized declines reported [mardi] evening by the API” are confirmed by the EIA, the downward price trajectory initiated at the end of last week could be coming to an end, notes Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Energy.
The day before, both crude benchmarks had lost nearly 2%, reaching their lowest levels in more than a month and marking the fourth consecutive day of decline, with Brent even approaching the $80 threshold.
The prices had been down with “the resumption of ceasefire negotiations in the conflict between Israel and Hamas and [les] concerns about demand,” says John Plassard of Mirabaud.