Crude Oil Closes Lower Due To Excess Supply Concerns

(RTTNews) - Crude oil settled lower on Thursday as excess US inventories and an upcoming OPEC+ meeting triggered supply side concerns.

WTI Crude Oil for August delivery closed, down by $0.45, to settle at $67.00 per barrel.

September month Brent Crude was last seen trading, down by $0.29, to $68.82.

Yesterday's data from Energy Information Administration showed that crude oil inventories rose by 3.8 million barrels to 419 million barrels for the week ending June 27. Total motor gasoline stocks rose by 4.2 million barrels to 232.1 million barrels, suggesting summer season demand is not peaking as expected.

Net US imports rose by a record 2.9 million bpd to 4.6 million bpd but US crude exports fell by 2.0 million bpd to 2.31 million bpd.

According to today's Baker Hughes Crude Oil Rigs report, crude oil rigs have decreased to 432 in June and total Rigs in the US have decreased to 547 in June.

Data suggesting weak demand for oil and energy in the US, a key consumer, trimmed gains from the previous trading session.

Supply side concerns still remain about the OPEC+ meeting on July 6. The cartel intends to raise production by 411,000 bpd in August. Russia is likely to concur with the decision to boost output. This could bring the year's increase to 1.78 million bpd, roughly 1.5% of global demand.

As the truce between Israel and Iran holds, supply side disruptions from the Middle East are out of discussion. However, traders added a modest risk-premium as Iran had enacted a law on Wednesday to challenge the IAEA's right to inspect the country's nuclear facilities without prior approval from Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

Axios reported that the US plans to restart nuclear talks with Iran soon which could result in reduced sanctions and increased Iranian oil exports.

As the July 9 deadline set by Trump for trade deals is fast approaching, countries are bracing to make concessions with the US to finalize a deal.

US jobs data revealed that the nonfarm payroll employment rose by 147,000 in June. A resilient US economy may allow the US Fed to not hurry on rate cuts anytime sooner than September.