Oil futures are trading in negative territory

Oil prices show a slight decline, as the market has concerns about global oversupply. Investors also continue to analyze yesterday's data on US petroleum inventories.

Recall, the US Department of Energy announced that crude oil inventories fell more than expected, but gasoline inventories unexpectedly rose. In the week 9-15 July oil stocks fell by 2.3 million barrels to 519.4 million barrels. Analysts had forecast a decline of 2.1 million barrels. Gasoline stocks rose by 911,000 barrels to 241 million barrels, while analysts had expected a decrease of 100,000 barrels. The utilization of refining capacity rose by 0.9% to 93.2%, exceeding the estimate (+ 0.2%). US domestic oil production rose to 8.494 million barrels per day versus 8.485 million barrels per day in the previous week. In addition, the total amount of oil is still at historic highs.

"The growing petroleum stocks worsened the already gloomy forecasts on demand for WTI for the first half of the year. The glut of the fuel market threatens to weaken demand for crude oil. The three major North Asian economies (South Korea, China, Japan) also show signs that their domestic markets are oversaturated with fuel, "- noted analysts at BMI Research.

Meanwhile, Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast that Brent crude oil in 2017 could grow by up to $ 70 per barrel due to the growth of consumption in China. According to experts, the average price of oil by the end of 2017 will amount to $ 61 per barrel and at the end of 2018 - $ 70 per barrel.

The cost of the September futures on US light crude oil WTI fell to 45.23 dollars per barrel.

September futures price for North Sea petroleum mix of mark Brent fell to 46.62 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.