Oil Sags As U.S. Builds Stockpile

Oil prices fell after earlier fluctuations between gains and losses, following a government report that showed a surprising build in U.S. crude stockpiles, Yongchang Chin and Alex Longley reported for Bloomberg News.

U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.36 million barrels, marking the first increase in stockpiles since June. I Photo: United States Department of Energy

Brent crude traded around $80 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate slipped below $78. Both benchmarks had dropped by about 2% in the previous session. U.S. inflation data released Wednesday was broadly in line with expectations.

In the U.S., crude inventories rose by 1.36 million barrels, marking the first increase in stockpiles since June. This contrasts with estimates from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which on Tuesday reported that inventories had shrunk by 5.2 million barrels.