ISLAMABAD: Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday following a rise in the US crude inventories, despite a weaker US dollar and fears of the Middle East supply disruption following another attack on ships near Yemen. As of 1325 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.19 (-0.23 percent) to reach $82.84 a barrel. Similarly, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went down by $0.17 (-0.22 percent) to $77.74 a barrel. On the other hand, the price of Arab Light increased by $0.76 (+0.92 percent) to reach $83.53 a barrel. Similarly, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $0.64 (+0.85 percent) to $76.22. However, the price for Opec Basket decreased to $82.82 a barrel with a dip of $0.07 (-0.08 percent). The US crude inventories have climbed amid outages at large refineries that have left utilization rates at the lowest level in two years, though the plants are resuming output. A rise in the US crude inventories, however, tempered further price gains. The investors await official inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) due later in the day. TLTP
