Brent falls to two-week low after inventory shock
Oil prices fell on Wednesday for a second straight day, with Brent hitting its lowest in two weeks after official figures showed a surprise jump in US inventories of crude.
Brent crude dropped $1.36, or 1.6 per cent, to $83.22 a barrel by 0130 GMT, a two-week low, having declined by 2.1 per cent in the previous session.
US oil fell $1.28, or 1.6 per cent, to $81.38 a barrel, a one-week low, after dropping 2.4 per cent on Wednesday.
Crude stocks rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the US Energy Department said, more than double the 1.9 million-barrel gain forecast by analysts.
The “hefty” stock build came “on the back of a large jump in net imports of crude oil and still sluggish refinery processing,” Citi Research commodities analysts said in a note.
