WTI crude futures traded lower during the early hours of the European trading session on Thursday, after the US Congress passed the US debt limit on Wednesday which avoided the government default.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) declined 0.55% to $101.73 per barrel, while the European benchmark Brent dropped 0.71% to $110.07 a barrel, at the time of writing.
After sixteen days of a partial government shutdown caused by the US Congress failure to finalize the US government’s debt ceiling and health care issues, the US Congress finally ended the shutdown on Wednesday and passed bipartisan legislation just hours before the October 17 deadline, when the US Treasury’s borrowing limit would end.
Congress passed the bill to raise a debit bill of $16.7 trillion and open funding for the government until early 2014. President Barack Obama signed the legislation into law early on Thursday morning.
Both sides of the Congress supported the legislation and left the healthcare reform, also known as Obamacare intact.
In the Senate, 81 legislators voted for the bill, while 18 voted against the bill. In the House of Representatives, 285 voted for the legislation while 144 voted opposed it. The law raised the debt ceiling until February 7 and funds for the US government until January 15. The proposal introduced a budget conference which is expected to present a long-term fiscal plan by December 13.
Federal employees in the US are expected to resume work today, the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed.
US crude stockpiles advanced by 5.94 million barrels last week, reports from the American Petroleum Institute confirmed on Wednesday.
The consultant firm PIRA suggested that the US has surpassed Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer in the world and also predicted the US to maintain its position.
The US accounts for 21% of global demand last year, according to BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy and according to the International Energy Agency estimates, this year is expected to be the same.
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