(Bloomberg) — Oil clung to losses after a U.S. government report showed stockpiles increased at the nation’s biggest storage hub.
Futures in New York fell 1.1% on Wednesday. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 1.29 million barrels, according to an Energy Information Administration report. Meanwhile, domestic crude inventories fell 4.59 million barrels last week, according to an Energy Information Administration report. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported a 815,000-barrel weekly decline on Tuesday.
Prices weakened earlier in the session as markets tip into a supply surplus, with demand pressured by the spread of the omicron Covid-19 variant and Chinese constraints on travel. Inventories are starting to rise and will accumulate more rapidly next year amid curbs on travel, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January delivery fell 75 cents to $69.98 a barrel at 10:37 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent for February settlement dipped 66 cents to $73.08 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange
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