Oil prices decline despite a drop in U.S. crude oil inventories

Oil prices declined despite a drop in U.S. crude oil inventories. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its crude oil inventories data on Wednesday. U.S. crude inventories fell by 4.346 million barrels to 461.4 million in the week to July 10.

Analysts had expected U.S. crude oil inventories to decline by 2.1 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories climbed by 58,000 barrels to 218 million barrels last week, according to the EIA.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, increased by 438,000 barrels to 57.1 million barrels.

U.S. crude oil imports increased by 38,000 barrels per day.

Refineries in the U.S. were running at 95.3% of capacity, up from 94.7% the previous week.

A deal with Iran on its nuclear programme still weighs on oil prices. Iran will be able to sell more crude oil on the global market. The global oil market is already oversupplied. More crude oil will lead to falling oil prices.

It is not clear how long it would take for the sanctions to be lifted. Analysts expect Iran to boost its crude oil exports by the end of the year or at the beginning of the next year.

WTI crude oil for August delivery decreased to $52.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude oil for August declined to $57.70 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.