After rising for two days in a row, oil prices retreated on Wednesday following a report indicating an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, signaling that fuel demand may be waning.
Brent futures down 57 cents, or 0.76%, at $74.75 a barrel at 10.12 A.M. Bangkok time. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 59 cents, or 0.85%, at $69.08.
On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that, as of the conclusion of the week ending March 17, oil stockpiles in the United States had increased by nearly 3.3 million barrels, compared to a 1.6 million barrel drop predicted by analysts polled by Reuters.
Markets are also waiting for the results of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting later on Wednesday, which is expected to result in the most difficult policy decision in recent years.
Following the meeting, Chair Jerome Powell is likely to release new economic estimates as well as the central bank’s interest-rate hike path.
While the market anticipates a rate hike of 25 basis points from the Fed on Wednesday, top central banks say the central bank may pause rate hikes or delay the release of new economic estimates in light of recent turbulence in the global banking sector.
