Oil prices decline ahead of US stockpiles data release

Oil prices declined on Wednesday ahead of official data on US inventories, while positive reports on COVID-19 vaccines acted as support.

Britain began administering COVID-19 vaccination to its people on Tuesday. Meanwhile, US Food and Drug Administration released documents that raised no new red flags over the safety or efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In terms of trading, International benchmark Brent crude was trading down 0.3% at $48.71 per barrel, at 8.55 am Makkah time.

WTI crude also fell 0.2% to $45.49 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday, Dec. 8, that US crude oil, gasoline and distillate stocks rose sharply last week, with crude stocks jumping by 1.14 million barrels, Reuters reported.

Official weekly oil data from the US Energy Information Administration is expected later today.