Oil Steady as U.S. Industry Report Shows Big Stockpile Build
Oil steadied after an industry report showed a big build in U.S. crude stockpiles, as the market eyed more trade attacks from President Donald Trump.
West Texas Intermediate was trading near $73 a barrel after rising nearly 4% over the previous three sessions. Brent settled at $77. Inventories rose by 9 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute reported. That would be the third weekly increase if confirmed by official data later Wednesday.
Oil has had a rocky start to the year, initially rising on higher heating demand due to the Northern Hemisphere winter and U.S. action against Russia’s crude industry. But futures have fallen in the past three weeks as Trump’s tariffs threaten a multi-pronged trade war.
There are signs that U.S. sanctions are having an impact on Russian crude flows. Several million barrels from a platform in the Pacific are stranded after a shuttle tanker carrying them to China was blacklisted.
Source: Bloomberg
