Oil down 1% on OPEC worries despite bounce on US draw
Oil fell 1 percent on Wednesday on growing doubts that OPEC would cut production enough to drain a global glut, although prices bounced off session lows, with Brent returning above $50 a barrel after the US government reported a surprise drawdown in crude inventories.
US crude stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, a result contrary to the 1.7 million-barrel build that analysts polled by Reuters had forecast.
Crude inventories in the world’s largest oil producer have fallen unexpectedly in seven of the past eight weeks, bucking the trend usually seen during autumn when stockpiles rise as refineries go into maintenance. A preliminary report on Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, had suggested a build of 4.8 million barrels for the October 21 week.
Oil prices pared losses after the EIA data, with US crude briefly trading in positive territory. But the rebound was limited by doubts about whether OPEC, which meets November 30 in Vienna, will succeed in reducing a global crude glut.