Oil prices down moderatly

Oil prices have fallen by about 2%, and have come under pressure due to report on petroleum inventories in the United States, which did not meet forecasts.

US Department of Energy reported that in the week of June 11-17, oil inventories fell by 917,000 barrels to 530.6 million barrels. Forecasts shown a reduction of 1.67 million barrels. Oil reserves in Cushing terminal fell by 1.3 million barrels to 65.2 million barrels. Gasoline stocks unexpectedly rose by 627,000 barrels to 237.6 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose by 151,000 barrels to 152.3 million barrels. Analysts expected an increase in distilate stocks at 100,000 barrels. The utilization of refining capacity increased by 1.1% to 91.3%. Analysts expected an increase of 0.7%. Meanwhile, oil production fell to 8.677 million barrels per day versus 8.716 million barrels per day in the previous week.

The cost of the August futures for US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) fell to 49.43 dollars per barrel.

The price of August futures for Brent fell to 49.90 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.