Oil was steadiing after a two-day advance with an industry report showing that growing U.S. crude and fuel stockpiles, adding to positive signs for a market still grappling with the latest Covid - 19 resurgence.
Futures trading in New York tipped above $67 a barrel after rising more than 8% over the previous two sessions. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories slid by 1.62 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data. That would be a third week drawing if confirmed by government figures later Wednesday. The API also explained that gasoline supplies fell.
Oil's red-hot rally over the first half of the year has been disrupted by the fast- spreading delta variant of the virus, although banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and UBS Group AG see prices recovering through 2021 as the market tightens. Investors will be eagerly waiting for any change to OPEC output policy when the group meets Sept. 1.
The prompt timespread for Brent crude has firmed in a bullish backwardation structure where the more recent contract are more expensive than near-dated ones - after some weakness due to virus resurgence. The spread was 72 cents a barrel, compared with 38 cents on Monday night.
Of those, the API said that gas production fell in last week by 985,000 barrels of crude oil. The official crude stocks are forecast to have dropped by 2 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg report before the nationwide energy information administration data.