Oil fell 0.3 percent yesterday after the IEA predicted that output will expand in countries such as Canada, the U.K. and Russia. Crude stockpiles gained 1.41 million barrels, according to the American Petroleum Institute. The U.S. Energy Department will probably say today inventories grew by 1.3 million barrels, based on analyst estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.
“Inventory levels are high,” Peter McGuire, managing director at CWA Global Markets Pty, said by phone from Sydney. Oil is “having a breather after a strong run-up in the last couple of weeks.”
Crude oil for May delivery dropped as much as 34 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $83.71 a barrel and was at $83.86 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 9:57 a.m. Sydney time. Yesterday, the contract lost 29 cents to settle at $84.05.
Countries outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will raise output by 600,000 barrels a day this year to average 52 million barrels a day, the IEA said in its monthly market report yesterday. That’s 220,000 barrels a day more than estimated last month. The agency’s global oil-demand forecast was 30,000 barrels a day higher than in last month’s report.
Non-OPEC producers pump about 60 percent of the world’s oil.
Fuel Supplies
Gasoline inventories climbed by 1.61 million barrels to 221.8 million, according to the API report. Stockpiles of distillate fuel, a category that includes heating oil and diesel, rose 1.71 million barrels, the API said.
Oil-supply totals from the API and DOE moved in the same direction 75 percent of the time over the past four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
API collects stockpile information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines. The government requires that reports be filed with the Energy Department for its weekly survey.
Brent crude for May settlement lost 5 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $84.72 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange yesterday.
