Oil Set for Third Weekly Drop as Rising U.S. Output Blunts Cuts
Futures were little changed in New York, down 3.2 percent for the week. U.S. production had the biggest weekly advance since June, according to Energy Information Administration data on Wednesday, offsetting the largest decline in stockpiles in almost a year. Oil processing in China fell in July, the biggest decline for that particular month in three years, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. “Prices were unimpressed by the reported significant drop in oil inventories,” said Norbert Ruecker, head of commodities research at Julius Baer Group Ltd. in Zurich. “Instead, the market’s focus was possibly on robust U.S. output growth or the fact that the driving season and seasonal demand strength are set to ebb over the coming weeks.” U.S. crude output rose by 79,000 barrels a day to 9.5 million a day last week, the highest since July 2015, the Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday. Stockpiles declined for a seventh week to 466.5 million barrels. Click Read More below for additional detail.