Oil slid on concerns that supplies may rise once the summer driving season ends, with traders shrugging off an industry report showing U.S. stockpiles declined. Crude inventories dropped by 7.84 million barrels last week in an American Petroleum Institute report released Tuesday, people familiar with the data said. That would be the largest draw since September if Energy Information Administration data confirm it Wednesday. However, stockpile declines are common during this time of year.
The EIA Tuesday raised U.S. oil output forecasts while cutting price estimates for this year. There are only about “five more weeks of draws and then inventories start to rise again. You’re coming rapidly to the end of the draw season for crude,” Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, said by telephone.