Adding to the pall, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude oil inventories rose by about 7.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 13, according to market sources.
Nine analysts polled by Reuters had estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 600,000 barrels.On a bullish note, however, distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by about 1.8 million barrels against analysts’ expectations for a 120,000-barrel increase. The API report was delayed by a day due to Monday’s Martin Luther King Day public holiday in the United States. The government’s Energy Information Administration will release its weekly inventory report on Thursday.
With aggressive rate hikes still on the cards, the U.S. dollar climbed, further weighing on oil demand, as a stronger greenback makes the commodity more expensive for those holding other currencies.