Oil prices dropped below $86 U.S. a barrel Wednesday, poised to log their fifth straight session decline, following a much larger-than-expected climb in the past week’s crude inventories and as investors scrutinized the latest global economic data.
Oil for December delivery fell 90 cents, or 1%, to $85.77 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures prices haven’t settled below $86 U.S. since mid-July, according to recent statistics.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported a 5.9 million-barrel rise in crude supplies for the week ended Oct. 19.
Analysts polled by Platts expected a 1.7 million-barrel increase.
Iran’s oil minister reportedly said Tuesday that his nation will stop oil exports if the U.S. and Europe add to the sanctions they imposed on Iran.
Motor gasoline supplies added 1.4 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell 600,000 barrels, the EIA report said. Analysts were forecasted a decline of one million barrels for gasoline inventories and a fall of 1.5 million barrels in distillate supplies, according to the Platts survey.
The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude-oil supplies rose 313,000 barrels for the week ended Oct. 19. It also said distillate stocks, which include heating oil, fell by 890,000 barrels and gasoline inventories climbed by 181,000 barrels.
Heating oil for November delivery fell 0.5 cents, or 0.2%, to $3.04 U.S. a gallon, while November gasoline lost less than one cent, or 0.3%, to $2.60 U.S. a gallon.
Natural gas for November delivery also fell eight cents, or 2.2%, to $3.46 U.S. per million British thermal units after posting a 2.4% gain Tuesday.
Commodities traders also looked forward to the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee announcement later Wednesday regarding its decision on monetary policy. That will come shortly before oil’s regular trading session on Nymex ends.
Oil futures traded in negative territory after the October composite euro-zone purchasing-managers index indicated contraction, defying forecasts for a modest rise. Around the same time, the German Ifo business climate index dropped for the sixth straight month.
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