Investing.com - Oil prices fell for a second day in a row on Tuesday, consolidating ahead of data likely to show another weekly build in U.S. crude stockpiles as refiners in storm-disrupted Texas tried to return to full operations in America’s energy epicenter.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for U.S. crude, settled at $64.01 per barrel, losing 1.6% for a second day in a row.
London-traded Brent, the global benchmark for crude, settled at $67.52, down 1.1%, after Monday’s 1.6% drop.
Crude prices dropped ahead of a snapshot of weekly inventories due at 4:30 PM ET (21:30 GMT) from industry group American Petroleum Institute. The API data serves as a precursor to official stockpiles data for the week ended March 5 that the government-run Energy Information Administration will issue on Wednesday.
For the previous week to Feb. 26, the EIA said U.S. crude inventories swelled by 21,563,000 barrels.
The build, racked up by unprocessed oil due to the mid-February Texas storm, was even larger than the 19.2 million-barrel increase seen during the week to April 10, 2020, when demand for oil cratered amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
For the latest week to March 5, analysts expect the EIA to report a crude build of just around 816,000 barrels.