- Oil prices slipped in early Asian trading on Wednesday following a brief rebound in the previous session after industry data showed an unexpected build infutures fell 21 cents, or 0.27%, to $76.27 a barrel by 0020 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 25 cents, or 0.34%, to $72.95 per barrel.
The API figures showed crude stocks were up by 176,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 2, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected crude stocks to fall by 700,000 barrels. On Monday, Brent futures slumped to their lowest since early January and WTI futures had touched their lowest since February, as a global stock market rout deepened on growing concerns of a potential recession in the U.S., the world's largest petroleum consumer.
"Any escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could see a greater risk of disruptions to supplies from the region," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said.