Oil futures fell Thursday, kicking off June with a decline as investors awaited official U.S. inventory data after industry figures showed a large rise in crude stocks.Price actionMarket drivers WTI fell more than 11% in May, its biggest... Oil futures fell Thursday, kicking off June with a decline as investors awaited official U.S. inventory data after industry figures showed a large rise in crude stocks.
The American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a 5.2 million barrel increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, according to a source citing the data, while gasoline supplies rose 1.9 million barrels and distillates were up 1.8 million barrels. Official data on U.S. crude inventories is due Thursday morning. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights, on average, look for crude stocks to fall 3.4 million barrels, gasoline inventories to declined 280,000 barrels and distillates to decline by 500,000 barrels.
If confirmed by EIA, the crude rise would be the largest weekly inventory build in more than three months, noted analysts at ING. A June 4 meeting of OPEC+—the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia—is in focus. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister earlier this month warned that short sellers should “watch out,” remarks that were viewed by analysts as a warning that a further round of production cuts could be in the offing.“Oil market participants expect the nine major OPEC+ producers, which announced voluntary production cuts in April, to keep production unchanged.