Oil prices are under pressure again amid the unexpected increase in stocks in the United States

Today, oil prices in the energy markets continued their decline, following the dynamics of the last six days. The current Brent quote is $77.30 per barrel, WTI is $73.00. 

The decline in prices is due to recent data on a significant increase in crude oil and fuel reserves in the United States, which raises doubts about the sustainability of demand growth.

According to the American Petroleum Institute, stocks of crude oil, gasoline and distillates unexpectedly increased in the United States last week. An increase in inventories usually indicates an excess of supply over demand. 

The institute's data showed that in the week ended May 31, crude oil inventories increased by more than 4 million barrels, while analysts had forecast a decrease of 2.3 million barrels. In addition, gasoline inventories also increased significantly – by more than 4 million barrels, which exceeded the growth of 2 million barrels predicted by analysts.

The pressure on prices is also related to the decision of the OPEC+ group to increase supply from October, despite signs of a possible weakening in demand growth.