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Oil prices climb amid fall in U.S. stockpiles, Middle East worries

Published 06/26/2019, 08:45 AM
Updated 06/26/2019, 08:50 AM
Oil prices climb amid fall in U.S. stockpiles, Middle East worries
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By Colin Packham
SYDNEY, June 26 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose over 1% on
Wednesday to hit their highest in nearly a month as
widely-watched data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than
expected, underpinning a market already buoyed by worries over
potential U.S.-Iran conflict.
Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 , the international
benchmark for oil prices, were up 1.4% at $65.97 by 0006 GMT.
They earlier touched their highest since May 31 at $66.00 a
barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were
at $58.97 per barrel, up 2% from their last settlement. WTI
earlier hit its strongest level since May 30 at $59.03 a barrel.
Analysts said the moves were mainly driven by American
Petroleum Institute (API) data showing a fall in U.S. crude
inventories.
U.S. crude stockpiles dropped by 7.5 million barrels in the
week ended June 21 to 474.5 million, compared with analyst
expectations for a decrease of 2.5 million barrels, the data
showed. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell
by 1.3 million barrels.
"Crude prices popped after the weekly API inventory report,"
said Edward Moya, senior market analyst, OANDA.
The data came as traders watch for any signs that tensions
between the United States and Iran could escalate into military
conflict.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to
obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked "anything American," in
a new war of words with Iran, which condemned fresh U.S.
sanctions on Tehran as "mentally retarded".

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