By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles rose substantially last week, according to industry data that exacerbated Tuesday's losses in oil prices amid easing optimism over energy market recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.
U.S. crude inventories jumped by 3.91 million barrels for the week ended March 26, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. That compared with a build of 2.9 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week.
West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude prices, was down as much as $1.17 a barrel on the news, after settling down $1.01 at $60.55 a barrel.
The backdrop of lower prices comes amid a weaker outlook on demand recovery from OPEC . “While last month saw many positive developments, it also witnessed reminders of the ongoing uncertainties and fragility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” OPEC Secretary Mohammed Barkindo told the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee on Tuesday, according to a statement.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies rose by about 107,000 barrels last week.