Oil prices fall 1%; Brent slips below $70

Oil rigs

Oil prices fell below $70 a barrel on Wednesday, following a media report that the White House plans to call on OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) to boost production.

The White House will call on OPEC+ to increase production in an effort to combat climbing gasoline prices, amid concerns that rising inflation could derail the economic recovery from COVID-19, CNBC reported.

The international benchmark Brent crude was trading down 1% to $69.90 per barrel, at 2.00 pm Makkah time.

WTI crude slumped 1.1% to $67.52 per barrel.

Meanwhile, Commonwealth Bank in a note said that oil prices are recovering on hopes that demand growth will outpace supply growth despite the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19, Reuters reported.

The American Petroleum Institute data showed that US crude stocks fell by 816,000 barrels in the week ended Aug. 6.

Official data on US crude inventories, from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), is due later today.