ANKARA
Oil prices declined on Wednesday over unexpected rise in US crude oil inventories and despite supply disruptions after Ukraine’s pipeline operator halted oil flow due to payment issues.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $95.46 per barrel at 09.40 a.m. local time (0640 GMT) for a 0.88% decrease from the closing price of $96.31 a barrel in the previous trading session.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $89.50 per barrel at the same time for a 1.1% drop after the previous session closed at $90.50 a barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced its estimate of a rise of over 2.15 million barrels in crude oil inventories in the world’s largest oil-consuming country, the US, late Tuesday, relative to the market expectation of a 73,000-barrel rise.
The more than expected increase in stockpiles signals a drop in crude demand, weighing prices down.
However, Ukraine’s main oil pipeline system operator, Ukrtransnafta, suspended oil transportation through the Ukrainian pipeline network on Aug. 4, curtailing downward price pressure.
The move came after Russia’s pipeline monopoly Transneft failed to make payment to Ukraine’s Ukrtransnafta.
The pipeline is the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline that transports Russian oil to refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia.
The Druzhba pipeline passes through Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania. Ukrtransnafta owns the Ukrainian section, the transit of which is paid by Russia.
