Oil prices fell on Wednesday following data indicating an increase in crude inventories in the US, the world’s biggest oil consumer.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $85.09 per barrel at 10.07 a.m. local time (0707 GMT), a fall of 0.28% from the closing price of $85.33 per barrel in the previous trading session.
The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $80.50 per barrel at the same time, a 0.26% drop from the previous session that closed at $80.71 per barrel.
Oil prices were buoyed by data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Tuesday showing an increase of 2.26 million barrels in US crude oil inventories.
The rise in commercial crude oil reserves reflected market perceptions of weakening domestic demand, driving prices down.
If official data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) later on Wednesday reveals a rise in the amount of oil stockpiles, prices are predicted to fall even further.
However, the escalating geopolitical tensions continue to put global energy supply routes at risk and drive up oil prices.
Israel’s military said Tuesday that it approved plans for an offensive in Lebanon as tensions rise with the Hezbollah group.
This comes hours after Hezbollah published a video of what it said was footage gathered by one of its reconnaissance drones of military locations in northern Israel.
The Lebanese Hezbollah group announced late Tuesday that it struck two military positions in northern Israel in response to Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon.
In a statement on its Telegram account, Hezbollah said the attacks were carried out in retaliation for Israel’s repeated attacks on the al-Barghalia area north of Tyre.
Tensions have risen along Lebanon’s border with Israel amid cross-border attacks between Hezbollah and Israeli forces as Tel Aviv presses ahead with its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 37,300 people since last October.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack in southern Russia caused a large fire at an oil terminal in the port of Azov, according to local authorities.
The attack, involving four Ukrainian aircraft, resulted in a blaze affecting several fuel tanks with a total capacity of 4,000 cubic meters (141,260 cubic feet), with the fire spread over an area of 3,200 square meters (34,445 square feet), Rostov’s regional Governor Vasily Golubev said on Telegram.
