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Oil bounces off 3-week lows on bets for bullish U.S. supply data

Published 08/16/2017, 03:27 AM
© Reuters.  Crude oil prices push higher ahead of U.S. supply data
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Investing.com - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, bouncing off their lowest levels in three weeks amid speculation weekly supply data due later in the session will show another big drop in U.S. crude inventories.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its official weekly oil supplies report at 10:30AM ET (1430GMT). Analysts expect crude oil inventories dropped by around 3.0 million barrels at the end of last week. If confirmed, it would mark a seventh weekly decline in a row.

Meanwhile, gasoline supplies are seen decreasing by 1.0 million barrels and distillates are forecast to fall 572,000 barrels.

After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that U.S. oil inventories fell by 9.16 million barrels in the week ended August 11. The API report also showed a gain of 300,000 barrels in gasoline stocks, while distillate stocks fell by 2.1 million barrels.

There are often sharp divergences between the API estimates and the official figures from EIA.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude September contract was at $47.84 a barrel by 3:25AM ET (0725GMT), up 29 cents, or around 0.6%. It slumped to its lowest since July 25 at $47.02 a day earlier.

Elsewhere, Brent oil for October delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 40 cents, or about 0.8%, to $51.20 a barrel, after falling to a three-week low of $50.02 in the prior session.

Crude prices settled lower on Tuesday as lingering concerns over a global supply glut weighed on sentiment.

OPEC and 10 producers outside the cartel, including Russia, agreed since the start of the year to slash 1.8 million barrels per day in supply until March 2018 in order to reduce a global supply glut and rebalance the market.

However, so far, the deal has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria, as well as a relentless increase in U.S. shale output.

Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for September ticked up half a cent, or roughly 0.3%, to $1.587 a gallon, while September heating oil rose 1.1 cents, or 0.7%, to $1.611 a gallon.

Natural gas futures for September delivery dipped 2.6 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.909 per million British thermal units.

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