SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices fell on Thursday after U.S. fuel stockpiles surged amid declining demand.
Brent crude futures fell 86 cents to $79.94 a barrel at 0559 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures lost 82 cents to $77.03 per barrel.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week while gasoline inventories surged more than 10 million barrels, the biggest weekly build since April 2020, according to Reuters.
“Implied product demand – particularly for gasoline – slumped, suggesting that the public were cautious about travel in the wake of surging cases of the Omicron variant,” Reuters quoted Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics, as saying.
“These fears are likely to persist for a few weeks yet.”
On Wednesday, Brent and WTI futures climbed to their highest since late November as a decision by OPEC+ to increase supplies signaled easing concern of a big surplus in the first quarter.
OPEC+, a group that includes OPEC members, Russia and other producers, agreed on Tuesday to add another 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of supply in February, as it has done each month since August.
