During the morning of Wednesday’s trading session of the European markets, oil prices were under pressure, falling almost to a monthly low after the publication of data on the next significant increase in oil reserves in the US.
The futures of WTI crude oil for April delivery fell $ 0.41, or approximately 0.8% to $ 52.73 a barrel. Last week, WTI oil prices fell to $ 52.54, the lowest since February 8.
Futures for Brent crude for May delivery lost $ 0.35 to $ 55.56 a barrel. Last week, Brent oil prices fell to $ 55.03, the lowest since February 8.
After the closure of the markets on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that crude oil reserves in the US increased by a whopping 11.6 million barrels per week ended March 3.
Also, the API report shows a decrease in gasoline reserves by 5.0 million barrels, and in stocks of distillates - by 2.9 million barrels.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will issue an official weekly report on the US crude oil inventories on Thursday.
Increased production in the US led to the fact that oil reserves reached record values in the country, increasing fears about the possibility of global overproduction.
For the last two months, oil prices have fluctuated in a narrow range of five dollars at about $ 55 per barrel, due to a constant change in market sentiment amid news of an increase in inventories and the recovery of shale oil production in the United States on the one hand, and a decline in production under the agreement between major producers on the other hand.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih made several controversial statements about further reduction in production by OPEC countries.
In his speech at the CERAWeek conference in Houston, Khalid Al-Falih said that last year's historic agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC countries on reducing production and raising oil prices significantly improved the situation on the market. Then he added that it was too early to say whether the agreement should be continued for the second half of this year.
The OPEC and non-OPEC countries have shown a good level of implementation of the agreement to cut production by almost 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of June. At the moment, according to experts' estimates, the agreement is fulfilled at the level of 94%.
At the NYMEX, April futures for gasoline fell $ 0.009 or 0.6% to $ 1.688 a gallon, while futures for heating oil for April delivery slightly changed at $ 1.613 per gallon.
April natural gas futures rose $ 0.073, or 2.6%, to $ 2.897 per million BTU after the publication of the forecast for colder weather, which will lead to increased demand.