Crude falls on rising US inventories, trading in narrow range

By Rowena Edwards

LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Thursday after U.S. crude inventories surged but remained in a narrow range as hopes of a pick-up in Chinese demand remained in the balance. honor. .

* Brent crude oil futures were down 36 cents, or 0.42%, at $85.02 a barrel at 10:42 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.37%, at $78.30.

* Prices came under pressure due to a higher-than-expected increase in crude oil inventories in the United States. Inventories hit their highest level since June 2021, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Wednesday.

* The accumulation was largely due to tighter data, which analysts said softened the impact on oil prices.

* Brent has been hovering between $80 and $90 for six weeks, while WTI has been hovering between $72 and $83 since December.

* “Oil prices are very choppy right now and traders have a lot to absorb,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam said in a note, noting the 500,000 bpd cut in Russian oil production in March. , the strong economic recovery in China and the uncertain global economic outlook.

* According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China will account for nearly half of global oil demand growth this year after easing its COVID-19 restrictions.

* On the supply side, the market is watching Russian oil production closely.

* Russian oil exports in January fell just 160,000 bpd from Ukraine’s pre-war levels, but about 1 million bpd of production will shut down by the end of the first quarter, according to the IEA.

* The market will look for economic clues in speeches by Federal Reserve and European Central Bank officials on Thursday.

(Reporting by Rowena Edwards; additional reporting by Mohi Narayan in New Delhi; Editing in Spanish by Ricardo Figueroa)