FX.co ★ Oil Dips on Stockpile Jump, Trade Worries

On Wednesday, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures slightly declined to approximately $68 per barrel, reversing some of the previous session's gains. This movement reflects investor concerns about increasing U.S. crude stockpiles and potential consequences from escalating trade tensions. President Donald Trump's firm stance on maintaining the August 1 deadline for tariffs heightened anxieties over global trade and its potential to dampen energy demand. In parallel, data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported an unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories by 7.1 million barrels last week, marking a second consecutive weekly increase, which defied market expectations of a 2.8 million-barrel decrease. Nonetheless, renewed attacks by Houthi forces on Red Sea shipping lanes have raised alarms about potential supply disruptions, providing some price support. This region is a vital corridor for crude oil transport from the Middle East to Europe and Asia. Additionally, the latest outlook from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) adjusted its U.S. oil production forecasts for 2025 downward, attributing this to weaker prices that have prompted producers to reduce drilling activities.