(BS)
Oil prices fell to almost four-month lows on Wednesday after data showed US crude inventories rising faster than expected, piling pressure on OPEC to extend output cuts beyond June.The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that US inventories climbed by 4.5 million barrels to 533.6 million last week, outpacing analyst forecasts of 2.8 million.
Investors now want to see whether Wednesday’s figures from the US Energy Information Administration confirm the rise. EIA will release its report at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).”With US crude stocks continuing to mount into record territory both in total and at Cushing following almost two months of Opec production restraint, we feel that the odds of a gradual unravelling in the Opec agreement have been increased significantly,” Jim Ritterbusch, president of Chicago-based energy advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note.
