The U.S. dollar last fell 0.9% on the day against a
basket of currencies at 101.19. Ministers from the OPEC+ producer group comprising the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and
allies including Russia kept their output policy unchanged on
Wednesday.
OPEC's oil output fell in January, as Iraqi exports dropped
and Nigerian output did not recover, with the 10 OPEC members
pumping 920,000 barrels per day (bpd) below OPEC+ targeted
volumes, a Reuters survey found.
The shortfall was bigger than the 780,000 bpd deficit in
December.
Elsewhere, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister said he expected
oil demand to rise on the back of Chinese economic activity.
(Additional reporting by Shadia Nasralla in London, Mohi
Narayan in New Delhi and Sonali Paul in Melbourne
Editing by David Gregorio and Nick Zieminski)
(Updates with settlement price, Federal Reserve detail)
By Laura Sanicola
Feb 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices settled lower on Wednesday
after sliding more than $3 a barrel in the session after U.S.
government data showed big builds in crude oil, gasoline and
distillate inventories and OPEC and its allies stuck to their
output policy.
Brent crude futures settled down $2.62, or 3.1%, at
$82.84 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude futures fell $2.46, or 3.1% to settle at $76.41.
U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories rose last week to their
highest levels since June 2021, the Energy Information
Administration said, as demand remained weak.
Crude inventories climbed 4.1 million barrels
in the week ended Jan. 27 to 452.7 million barrels, much steeper
than the 0.4 million barrel rise that analysts had forecast in a
Reuters poll. It was the sixth straight weekly build, as
refining utilization declined and net imports climbed.
"The market is reacting to the report that indicates there
isn't demand for crude oil or fuels," said John Kilduff, partner
at Again Capital LLC in New York.
The Federal Reserve raised its target interest rate by a
quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, yet continued to
promise "ongoing increases" in borrowing costs as part of its
still unresolved battle against inflation.
"Inflation has eased somewhat but remains elevated," the
U.S. central bank said in a statement that marked an explicit
acknowledgement of the progress made in lowering the pace of
price increases from the 40-year highs hit last year.
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