Oil steady as market eyes US inventory data

Oil drilling rigs

Oil prices stabilized today, June 20, as investors awaited the weekly data on US crude inventories amid concerns over an increase, as indicated by a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) last Tuesday.

Prices of Brent crude for August delivery held firm at $85.10 per barrel at 08:15 am KSA time.

Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for August delivery, the most active contract, declined by 0.27% to $80.49 per barrel. July contracts, which expire today, fell by 0.23% to $81.38 per barrel.

The settlement prices for WTI crude contracts were not published on Wednesday as the US market was closed, which also led to a lower trading volume today.

Investors are awaiting the official US crude inventory data to be released later today to gauge the strength of demand for crude oil in the world's largest economy.

Despite the return of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and fears of escalating conflict in the region, concerns over rising US crude stocks, which indicate weak demand, dominate investor sentiment. This follows the API’s latest report that showed a weekly inventory increase of 2.264 million barrels.