Brent and U.S. Crude settled lower Wednesday after a choppy trading session, yet Brent prices remained above $107 a barrel as investors remained cautious amid geopolitical tension threatening supplies from key oil-producing regions.
- Crude Oil dropped 0.39% to trade at $ 101.99 a barrel
- Brent Oil was at $ 107.21 a barrel, 0.11% lower
Data released in the previous session form the American Petroleum Institute (API) data showed that U.S. crude inventories fell 555,000 barrels last week to 374.7 million.
Meanwhile, investors will focus their attention on the weekly crude oil inventory report from the U.S. Department of Energy`s Energy Information Administration (EIA) due later in the day.
In other NYMEX trading:
- NYMEX Gasoline fell 0.37% to trade at $ 286.99
- NYMEX Heating Oil lost 0.01% to trade at $ 285.45
- NYMEX Natural Gas gained 0.45% to $ 3.789
The European Union (EU) foreign ministers threatened of harsher sanctions against a range of Russian on Tuesday in response to the suspected downing of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner by Moscow-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
In Libya, the National Oil Company’s report showed oil production had fallen to around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) as of Monday compared with 555,000 bpd on Thursday, amid ongoing geopolitical tension in the area as a twin suicide bombing at a Libyan army base in Benghazi killed at least four soldiers.
In Gaza, Israel extended offensive across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, saying no ceasefire was near as U.S. and United Nations diplomats pursued talks on halting the fighting that has claimed more than 600 deaths.