By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. oil stockpiles rose last week, keeping pressure on oil prices, though experts continue to tout optimism amid ongoing tightening in global supplies ahead of an expected snapback in fuel demand as economies reopen.
U.S. crude inventories rose 12.79 million barrels last week, according to an estimate released Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute, after a build of 7.35 million barrels the previous week. Cushing inventories increased by 295,000 barrels, while gasoline inventories declined by about 8.5 million barrels, and distillate stocks decreased by about 4.8 million barrels.
Crude Oil WTI Futures, the U.S. benchmark for oil, fell $1.21 a barrel on the news after settling down $1.04 cents at $64.01 a barrel.
The outlook for oil prices remain positive amid expectations that major oil producers will continue to pursue a tight oil market strategy.
"We believe it is now clear that OPEC+ is in fact pursuing a tight oil market strategy, with our updated supply-demand balance pointing to OECD falling to their lowest level since 2014 by the end of this year," Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said in a note.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies increased by about 816,000 barrels last week.