Oil prices were mixed on Wednesday after traders took advantage of profit-taking from Tuesday’s low prices over demand fears in the world’s largest consumers, the US and China.
International benchmark crude Brent traded at $81.72 per barrel at 10.09 a.m. local time (0709 GMT), a 0.13% rise from the closing price of $81.61 a barrel in the previous trading session on Tuesday.
The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at the same time at $77.32 per barrel, down 0.06% from Tuesday’s close of $77.37 per barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute’s (API) announcement on Tuesday of an estimated rise in US crude oil stockpiles of 11.9 million barrels, against the market expectation of a decline of 300,000 barrels, indicated a fall in the world’s biggest oil-consuming country’s oil demand, driving prices down.
Data in China, the world’s biggest crude oil importer, also raised doubts about the demand outlook.
China’s customs office reported a year-over-year drop of 6.4% in the country’s exports to $274.8 billion, marking the sixth straight month of export declines from China.
