By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil shed earlier gains at the global market on Wednesday as prices tumbled following the details that US crude inventories recorded unexpected growth last week.
Business Post reports that when the prices were monitored as at 2pm Nigerian Time yesterday, the Brent crude was trading at $64 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was trading at $58.50 per barrel.
However, as at 9pm yesterday, the Brent futures fell 16 cents or 0.25 percent to $63.05 per barrel, while the WTI crude dipped to 31 cents or 0.53 percent to 58.43 per barrel.
According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude stocks in the United States rose by 1.6 million barrels last week as production hit a 12.9 million barrels per day, a record which led to refinery runs slowed.
Early in the week, analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast an expected drop of 418,000 barrels. The losses were, however, minimal based on optimism that a U.S.-China trade deal would be reached soon.
The latest optimism was spurred by comments from US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, who disclosed that the United States and China were close to an agreement after top negotiators spoke by telephone and agreed to keep working on remaining issues.
The actions of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies and its consideration to make further extensions to crude output cut when they meet in December due to growing concerns about a slowdown in growth for oil demand have also helped keep prices reasonable.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will meet in December 5 in Vienna, Austria to review output policy.
Modupe Gbadeyanka