Crude oil futures settle lower as data shows much smaller than expected drop in US crude inventories

27 Jul 2023 Evaluate

Crude oil futures ended lower on Wednesday as data showed a much smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended July 21st. Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. dropped by 600,000 barrels last week, substantially less than an expected draw of 2.35 million barrels. The EIA data also showed that gasoline stockpiles dropped 0.786 million barrels last week versus an expected decline of 1.678 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped 0.245 million barrels, less than an expected decline of 0.301 million barrels. Besides, uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China and the Federal Reserve's decision to raise rates by 25 basis points also hurt oil prices.

Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery fell $0.85 or about 1.1 percent to settle at $78.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery dropped $0.72 or about 0.9 percent to settle at $82.92 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.


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