Oil Down, Loses Momentum After Reaching High

Oil prices slid for a second straight day after peaking with a seven-year high at the start of the week, after a jump in U.S. crude inventory was discovered.

Brent oil futures dropped 2.23% to $82 by 12:01 AM ET (4:01 AM GST) and {{8849|WTI futures} } also tumbled 1.97% to $81.03.

U.S. crude supplies data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a 4.267-million-barrel build. Forecasts prepared by Investing.com had predicted a build of 1.914 million barrels, while a 431,0000-barrel draw was recorded during the previous week.

Crude supplies data from the American Petroleum Institute, released the day before, showed a 2.318-million-barrel build.

The “hefty” EIA stock build came “on the back of a large jump in net imports of crude oil and still sluggish refinery processing,” stated analysts of Citi Research commodities in a note.

However, EIA data also showed that gasoline stocks fell by 1.994 million barrels to the lowest in nearly four years, even as U.S. consumers are challenged with rising prices.

Meanwhile, crude storage is the most depleted in three years at the WTI delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The prices for longer-dated futures contracts showed that supplies will stay low for months.