11.08.201422:50:49UTC+00WTI ends climb with a drop on incoming supply data

West Texas Intermediate fell today after gaining for three consecutive days just as latest data on fuel supplies in the US is set to be released.

Futures for the American with a delivery date in September crude lost as much as 0.3%, or 29 cents, to reach a price per barrel of $97.79 and was trading at $97.88 mid morning in Seoul on the New York Mercantile Exchange. WTI climbed for a third time yesterday to reach its highest close since August 4th of $98.08 after adding on 0.4%. Trading volume was 67% less than the 100 day average. The benchmark has lost 0.5% for the year so far.

Results of a Bloomberg survey suggest that crude stockpiles in the US, the largest consumer of oil in the world, fell for the seventh time last week to 363.9 million barrels, down 1.75 million from the previous week along with gasoline supplies. Meanwhile, volume at the delivery point of WTI in Cushing, Oklahoma is seen to have increased alongside stockpiles of distillate during the same period. Both the American Petroleum Institute and the  Energy Information Administration are expected to release their latest reports today and tomorrow, respectively.

Chief market strategist Michael McCarthy from CMC Markets says that, “We’ve reversed all of the overnight gains we saw for West Texas and that’s not surprising, there’s a clear trend downward here.”

Brent, the European benchmark, declined by 0.1%, or 9 cents, in London’s ICE Futures Europe exchange and ended up with a price per barrel of $104.59 yesterday. Futures for the oil for September held a premium of $6.69 over WTI.