WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday after three days of losses as comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell raised hopes for interest-rate cuts later this year and industry data showed declines in both crude and fuel stocks.
The upside remained capped as supply concerns due to Hurricane Beryl eased, mediators tried to push through a long-elusive deal for a cease-fire deal and hostage release in Gaza, and the latest inflation data highlighted stubbornly weak consumer demand in top crude importer China.
Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.3 percent to $84.89 a barrel, while WTI crude futures were up 0.4 percent at $81.76.
The American Petroleum Institute reported that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.9 million barrels for the week ending July 5. Analysts had expected a 250,000-barrel draw.
Gasoline inventories fell by 3 million barrels for the week, while distillate inventories saw a build of 2.3M barrels.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release its weekly U.S. petroleum supply report later in the day.
Last week's data from EIA had showed oil inventories plunged by 12.2 million barrels in the week ended June 28th, after climbing by 3.6 million barrels a week earlier.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
