WTI, Brent prices drop on US inventories data

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration released its latest weekly US inventories report, showing that both crude oil and gasoline stockpiles rose last week.

December contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were down $2.12 to $77.43 per barrel by just before the close of floor trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude December contracts dropped $2.11 to $75.81 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Crude oil inventories added 778,000 barrels, less than the 1.9 million barrels that had been anticipated, but gasoline stockpiles added 1.62 million barrels last week against an expected drop of 1 million barrels during the week as gasoline consumption in the US dropped 1 percent during the week as retail prices rose.

Nymex November gasoline futures fell 7 cents to $2 per gallon while December heating oil was down 4 cents to $2.04 per gallon and December natural gas dropped 9 cents to $5.19 per million British thermal units.

Metals prices were hurt by more strength for the dollar.

December gold was $4.90 lower to $1,030.50 per troy ounce in New York trade, while December silver fell 29 cents to $16.25 per troy ounce, January platinum was $12.10 lower to $1,306.90 per troy ounce and, in afternoon trade, December palladium dropped 4 percent to $3.17 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, December copper was down 7 cents to $2.93 per pound in New York, while three-month copper fell $155 to $6,430 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as LME-monitored inventories added another 1,075 tonnes during the session to 371,725 tonnes, their highest in five months.

Besides the dollar’s strength and higher LME inventories, copper prices were hurt by new data on US home sales which showed that new home sales there dropped by 3.6 percent in September.

Among other base metals, lead fell $39.50 to $2,270.50 per tonne in London, while aluminium was down $73 to $1,912 per tonne, zinc was $123 lower to $2,190 per tonne, tin fell $650 to $14,650 per tonne and nickel dropped $850 to $17,800 per tonne.

Story link: WTI, Brent prices drop on US inventories data