Oil prices fall on easing Canadian wildfires, rise in inventories

The diminished threat from the wildfires in Canada’s oil sands led to oil prices reversing gains.

After jumping more than 2% as the markets opened with Asian trading Sunday night, U.S. and global oil benchmarks fell Monday as reports said Canada’s wildfires that have curtailed oil output there have slowed and moved away from key production facilities. The fires had shut down as much as 1 million barrels a day of Canadian oil-sands production.

But the Canada fires, which traders said posed a more immediate concern to supply, began to fade as a concern early Monday. Reports of damage to production facilities have been limited.

Meanwhile, another factor knocking oil prices lower was an inventory report out on Monday. Stockpiles at the key U.S. delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, rose 1.4 million barrels last week, according to reports.

If the figures prove accurate when official U.S. Energy Department data are released Wednesday, it would add yet more oil to a U.S. system already brimming with near-record levels of stored supplies.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 0.4 per cent at $43.82 a barrel on Tuesday, having fallen 3.8 per cent in the previous session, while West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark, was flat at $43.43.

The post Oil prices fall on easing Canadian wildfires, rise in inventories appeared first on FXTM Blog.

Source:: Oil prices fall on easing Canadian wildfires, rise in inventories