Oil remains under pressure on high inventories

Oil prices remain under pressure this Thursday morning in Asia after the International energy Agency data showed global oil stocks had increased despite attempts by major OPEC and non-OPEC producers to curb supplies and rebalance the market.

At the time of writing, Brent was trading marginally weaker around $46.95/barrel. WTI was down 11 cents at $44.60/barrel.

The IEA report said the oil inventories in the industrialized nations grew by 18.6 million barrels in April. Inventories were 292 million barrels higher than the average over the past five years. Earlier this week, the API reported 2.8 million barrel rise in the US oil inventories. 

Prices fell nearly 4% on Wednesday to their lowest close in seven months on the back of an unexpected large build in gasoline inventories. The US EIA reported a 2.1 million-barrel increase in gasoline inventories last week. The gasoline inventories are now 9% higher than their five-year average.