By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil inventories jumped sharply last week, API data showed Tuesday, exacerbating fears of a wobble in oil demand amid growing risk of an economic recession.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $95.69 per barrel following the report after settling down $8.25 at $95.84 per barrel.
U.S. crude inventories increased by about 4.8 million barrels for the week ended July 1. That compared with a build of 3.8 million barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a decrease of about 1.9 million barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels last week, while distillate stocks increased by about 3.3 million barrels.
The fresh signs that slowing economic growth spells demand destruction for energy come just as OPEC's latest report forecasts world oil demand to slow in 2023 to 2.7 million per day.
The oil-cartel kept its 2022 demand forecast unchanged, flagging significant downside risks including "ongoing geopolitical tensions, the continued pandemic, rising inflation, aggravated supply chain issues, high sovereign debt levels in many regions, and expected monetary tightening by central banks in the U.S., the U.K., Japan and the eurozone."
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 154,000 barrels last week.