Oil Trades Near Seven-Month Low After Surge in Gasoline Supplies

(Bloomberg) 

Oil traded near the lowest closing level in seven months as U.S. gasoline supplies unexpectedly rose for a second week.

Futures were little changed in New York after slumping 3.7 percent Wednesday, the first drop in four sessions. Motor-fuel stockpiles expanded by 2.1 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported. Most analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a decline. Crude output climbed while nationwide inventories fell less than predicted.

Oil has declined almost 8 percent this month amid speculation that rising U.S. supplies will offset output curbs by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia. New production from OPEC rivals will be more than enough to meet demand growth next year, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday in its first forecast for 2018.

“Any build in U.S. commercial stocks gives us an indication of the uphill battle OPEC is facing,” said Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London. “Although last week the big bearish surprise came in the form of significant builds across the board, this time around gasoline was responsible for the consequences.”

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery was at $44.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 3 cents, at 10:01 a.m. London time. Total volume traded was about 46 percent above the 100-day average. Prices dropped $1.73 to $44.73 on Wednesday, the lowest close since Nov. 14.

Brent for August settlement was up 10 cents at $47.10 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Prices slid $1.72, or 3.5 percent, to $47 on Wednesday. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.14 to August WTI.

U.S. crude stockpiles dropped by 1.66 million barrels last week, the EIA reported Wednesday. Inventories were forecast to decline by 2.45 million, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. Production rose by 12,000 barrels a day to 9.33 million barrels a day.

Oil-market news:

The Qatar crisis is reverberating in Libya, inflaming political divisions in the war-torn oil exporter and dragging commodity-trading giant Glencore Plc into a dispute over crude sales. Iraq is driving up  crude-oil exports to the U.S., the world’s second-biggest import market, just as there are signs Saudi Arabia is honoring a pledge to restrict such deliveries, according to tanker-tracking data.