(Bloomberg) — Oil prices fell for a fourth day since the premium traders placed on geopolitical risks subsided and US inventories reached their highest levels since June.
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Global benchmark Brent traded below $87 a barrel after slumping 3% on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate was at about $82. US crude inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels last week, while gauges of fuel demand declined.
That added to signs of a market that has cooled after a rally earlier this month in anticipation of Iran’s attack on Israel last weekend. At present, there’s a premium of $5 to $10 a barrel baked in because of tensions, but futures may fall without escalation, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said.
“The EIA report was not bullish yesterday, add some fading geopolitical risk premium and that explains a component of the value drop,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at UBS Group AG.
Technical selling on Wednesday also likely hastened crude’s decline.
Oil stays comfortably higher 12 months so far as supply cuts by OPEC+ members and geopolitical risks inside the Middle East and Russia have combined to help prices. The run-up had ignited speculation that crude may regain $100 a barrel, although the ascent has now faltered, with some market metrics including timespreads and pockets of the diesel market pointing to barely less tight conditions.
US sanctions were also in focus. President Joe Biden’s administration has reimposed restrictions on Venezuelan oil, ending a six-month reprieve in a move which can hamper flows from the South American nation. On the equivalent time, recent sanctions on Iranian oil were included as a component of a foreign aid package released by House Republicans that’s slated for a floor vote later this week.
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