Jan 06, 2022 03:06AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
Oil costs lost ground on Thursday, tumbling from their most significant levels in over a month after US fuel stocks flooded in the midst of falling interest.
Brent's unrefined prospects were down 63 pennies, or 0.8 percent, to $80.17 per barrel at 07:27 GMT.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) unrefined prospects lost 58 pennies, or 0.8%, to $77.27 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell last week while gasoline stocks rose by more than 10 million barrels last week, the biggest weekly increase since April 2020, as supplies piled up at refineries due to lower fuel demand.
The United States reported nearly 1 million COVID-19 cases on Monday, setting a global record, as the spread of the Omicron variant showed no signs of slowing while heavy snowfall also hampered traffic.
In addition, minutes from a US Federal Reserve meeting showed that policymakers may raise interest rates sooner than expected, putting pressure on riskier assets such as oil.
On Wednesday, Brent and WTI futures climbed to their highest since late November as OPEC+'s decision to increase output suggested concerns about a large first-quarter surplus were easing.
OPEC+, a group that includes members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers, agreed on Tuesday to increase output by another 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February, as it has done every month since August.
TC Energy's Keystone oil pipeline, with a capacity of 590,000 barrels per day, was restarted on Wednesday after a one-day disruption, the company said, as parts of western Canada struggled with freezing winter weather.