Brent crude traded below $65 a barrel after slipping 0.3% in the previous session, with West Texas Intermediate near $61. The International Energy Agency slashed its forecasts for global oil consumption this year and next as trade frictions rise. Supply additions are likely to be more than enough to satisfy demand, it said in a monthly report.
The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute reported US nationwide crude inventories rose by 2.4 million barrels last week, which would be the third consecutive advance if confirmed by official data later Wednesday. However, the report indicated declines at the oil storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, and in fuel inventories.
Crude remains near the lowest in four years, after a steep decline earlier this month brought about by an onslaught of tariffs and counter-levies between the US and its biggest trading partners. Trump on Tuesday launched a probe into the need for import taxes on critical minerals, while struggling to bridge trade differences this week with the European Union as White House officials said the bulk of the US tariffs imposed on the bloc won’t be removed.
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