Oil futures edge up on decline in US crude stocks

0
82

ISLAMABAD: Crude oil futures edged up on Wednesday following the data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that showed a decline in US crude stocks. At 1330 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, was trading at $68.99 a barrel after gaining 0.64 percent. Likewise, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 0.72 percent to reach $65.75 a barrel. The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $66.57 a barrel with 2.39 percent decrease, Arab Light was available at $68.02 a barrel with 1.27 percent increase while price of Russian Sokol increased 3.14 percent to reach $68.91 a barrel. The latest API report, which was released on Tuesday, showed a decline of 2.5 million barrels in US crude inventories for the week ended May 7. Distillate stocks fell by 870,000 barrels, while gasoline showed a build of 5.6 million barrels. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) report is expected to show a decline of 4.1 million barrels of crude oil. TLTP