By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected last week, but product inventories recorded sizeable gains at a time when many are reassessing the risk of the Omicron Covid-19 variant to energy demand.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $71.73 barrel on the news, after settling up 3.7% at $72.05 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 30. That compared with a draw of 747,000 barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of about 2.1 million barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 3.7 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks increased by 1.2 million barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 1.24 million barrels last week.
Oil prices slumped Tuesday, as market participants fear that the new Covid variant's impact on energy demand could force OPEC and its allies to delay plans to increase production at their meeting on Thursday.
OPEC+ confirming its plan to increase production is “virtually unimaginable in view of the latest market developments,” Commerzbank said in a note