The price of a barrel of WTI oil fell to the level of $68.7 after a decrease in raw materials stocks in the United States.
On Thursday, the US Department of Energy reported that commercial oil reserves in the country, excluding the strategic reserve, decreased by 1.5 million barrels, or 0.4%, last week. At the same time, analysts assumed that the indicator would decrease by 4.6 million barrels. However, gasoline stocks in the country for the previous week decreased significantly more than expected – by 7.2 million barrels with an expected decrease of 3.4 million. Earlier, investors reacted to the news from China, against which oil quotes fell by about 1.5% at the moment. China will auction oil from state reserves for the first time to ease pressure on manufacturing enterprises due to rising commodity prices, according to a report published on Thursday by the State Administration of Food and Material Reserves of the People's Republic of China. The buyers will be Chinese oil refineries. China has been building up oil reserves for many years, but it is obvious that the country's government is very concerned about limited supplies and rising prices.
The forecast assumes a further decline in the price of WTI oil to the support levels of 68.4, 68 and 67.5 dollars per barrel.