AA / Istanbul
Oil prices fell in morning trading on Thursday, with the release of US data highlighting a slowdown in demand for crude oil, against a backdrop of the US economy effectively entering a recessionary phase.
The US Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that US commercial crude oil reserves (excluding strategic petroleum reserves) increased from the previous week by 4.5 million barrels to a total of 426.6 million barrels.
Total motor gasoline supplies rose 0.2 million barrels last week, about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.
As of 0600 GMT, prices for Brent crude oil futures, for October delivery, fell 0.22%, or 19 cents, to $96.61 a barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for September delivery also saw prices fall 0.17%, or 14 cents, to $90.68 a barrel.
The US economy contracted by 0.9% in the second quarter of 2022, in first reading, after a contraction of 1.6% in the first quarter of the same year.
Fuel prices in US markets have started to decline from record highs seen in recent weeks, which financial market experts say is due to lower demand.
The fall in prices still took place despite the fact that the OPEC + Alliance decided on an increase in oil production by a volume of 100,000 barrels per day, next September, instead of the increase average of 400,000 barrels that had been decided in the last months of 2022.
*Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour