Petroleum prices were mixed on Wednesday as falling U.S. inventories lifted the U.S. WTI price while the Brent benchmark steadied as the market took stock of weak U.S. data that raised fears of recession in the world’s biggest economy.
Brent crude last eased by 67 cents, or 0.83%, to $80.10 U.S. a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slid 35 cents, or 0.45%, to $76.72.
U.S. crude oil stocks declined by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ended April 21, according to American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Tuesday. Analysts had expected crude inventories to fall by about 1.5 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories fell by 1.9 million barrels last week while distillate inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles have been falling since the middle of March as refineries have increased runs to produce more gasoline ahead of the peak summer demand period that starts in May. This has pushed WTI futures prices into backwardation, when prompt futures are higher than later-dated futures, reflecting the higher refinery demand.
Oil prices stumbled more than 2% on Tuesday, moving towards the level before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and producer allies such as Russia, known collectively as OPEC+, announced an additional output reduction until the end of the year.
While the API data pushed the market higher on Wednesday, lingering economic concerns and expectations of further interest rate hikes that could curtail fuel demand growth are countering signs of improving short-term consumption gains.
