Crude oil prices was seen in red, trading below the $98 threshold for the first time since July 2 on Wednesday, as oil inventories in the world’s largest economy rose.
Prices for the West Texas Intermediate dropped 0.55% lower trading at $97.76 per barrel, while the European benchmark crude Brent declined 0.27% lower, standing at $109.68 per barrel at the time of writing.
Reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) confirmed that oil inventories in the US advanced by 3 million last week.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a delayed report that showed that the US crude stockpiles advanced by 3.999 million barrels in the week ended October 11. EIA are expected to provide its latest report from the US crude oil stockpiles later during the day.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics posted the US-farm payrolls on Tuesday, which came in 18-days late due to the US government shutdown. The report showed that the world’s largest economy added 148,000 new jobs in September, lower than an increase of 180,000 made by analysts.
The unemployment rate came in at 7.2% in September, lower than the previous month’s reading of 7.3%.
Analysts are expecting the Federal Reserve to postpone tapering of its monthly $85 billion asset-purchasing program.
Iran held talks in Geneva last week with six major powers regarding its nuclear program, offering concessions in exchange for the easing of the economic sanctions imposed on the country by the US and EU which have been harming Iran’s economy and oil exports. Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter in the world, increased its oil exports by 325,000 barrels a day in August compared to 7.795 million barrels per day in the previous month, according to data released by the Joint Data Initiative. Saudi Arabia increased its crude production to 10.19 million barrels per day, compared to 156,000 bpd in July.
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