Oil: prices under pressure ahead of U.S. stockpiles data

Oil is trading lower continuing the recent decline ahead of data on U.S. stockpiles reported by the American Petroleum Institute at 20:30 GMT. Last week stockpiles reached the most in 80 years. Concerns over a maximum of capacity reached put further pressure on the price. The U.S. are the world's largest consumer of oil. Brent Crude lost -1.69%, currently trading at USD53.03 a barrel. On January 13th Crude set a low at USD45.19. West Texas Intermediate declined -1.94% currently quoted at USD43.03.

The OPEC published its monthly report yesterday. The organisation reduced the outlook for demand in 2015 and warned that U.S. output might not come down before the end of the year - despite a lower rig count.

On Friday the IEA warned in its latest monthly oil report that the recovery in prices is fragile and that U.S. production might even rebound - further worsening the global supply glut.

Oil prices declined by almost 60% between June 2014 and January 2015 and recovered by almost 35% in 2015 before declining again. Although prices rebounded after setting new lows, worldwide supply still exceeds demand in a period of low global economic growth, pushing stockpiles to record highs and weighing on prices.