The price of oil rose by about 1%, continuing yesterday's increase, helped by concerns about the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and the endangered oil production.
However, the price increase was limited by concerns about weak demand and the recession in the United States. The strengthening of the US currency also put pressure on oil prices. The US Dollar Currency Index (DXY), which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona) rose by 0.25% to 103.23.
Meanwhile, data from the General Administration of Customs showed that in July China's daily crude oil imports fell by 12% compared to June and by 3% per annum, to 42.34 million metric tons or about 9.97 million barrels per day. As a result, daily crude oil imports reached its lowest level since September 2022. For the first seven months, crude oil imports totalled 317.8 million tons, or 10.89 million bpd, down 2.4% on the year in one of the few annual declines and the steepest fall since early 2023.
Prices were also impacted by data from the American Petroleum Institute, which showed that last week crude oil inventories rose by 180,000 barrels. Analysts predicted an increase of 850,000 barrels. This week’s build ends five weeks of API-estimated inventory draws for crude oil, halting a total loss of 24 million barrels during that time. Gasoline inventories also rose this week, by 3.31 million barrels. Distillate inventories saw an increase this week of 1.22 million barrels. Cushing inventories also saw a build of 1.07 million barrels, according to API data. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is due to release weekly inventory data at 14:30 GMT.