Oil prices fall after new build in U.S. crude stocks

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after a new build in U.S. crude stock levels put a global glut back in focus. U.S. crude futures were down $1.15 at $51.90 a barrel. Brent was $1.03 lower at $56.88 a barrel after gaining almost 6 per cent on Tuesday and off a near six-year low of $45.19 reached in mid-January. The drop cut short a rally that pushed up prices by about 19 percent over the past four sessions.
But a report from the industry group, American Petroleum Institute, showed that the drop was due to the U.S. crude stocks which rose more than 6 million barrels last week.
The fall in prices “makes perfect sense after the marked increase since Friday.
“A degree of reversal should be expected given stock builds globally,” said Gareth Lewis-Davies, senior oil strategist at BNP Paribas. The U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) is expected to release its data on stocks late on Wednesday.