Oil rises ahead of US inventory data

Oil prices rose today, Aug. 7, amid ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and despite the American Petroleum Institute (API) reporting an increase in US crude inventories last week, as investors await official data later in the day. 

Brent crude was trading up 0.22%, or 17 cents, at $76.65 at 08:42 am Makkah time. WTI crude rose 0.27%, or 20 cents, to $73.40 a barrel. 

The API report issued on Aug. 6 said that US crude oil inventories rose by 180,000 barrels during the week ended Aug. 2, indicating weak demand. 

However, over the four weeks ending on the same date, black gold inventories fell by 4.49 million barrels. Investors are awaiting the release of official inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) today, with expectations indicating a possible decline of 1.6 million barrels during the past week, after a decline of 3.4 million barrels in the previous week.  

The EIA said in a report on Aug. 6 that global oil inventories fell by about 400,000 barrels during the first half of the year, and that it expects them to fall by 800,000 barrels during the last six months of 2024, which means that the momentum of global demand for black gold continues.