WTI stays near $65 in post-settlement trade despite 3 mln draw in US crude stocks

• API data show  a higher-than-expected draw in crude oil inventories in the U.S.
• Comments on oil production ahead of OPEC summit continue to drive oil prices.

After settling at $65.07 with a 1% loss on Tuesday, the barrel of West Texas Intermediate failed to take advantage of the weekly API report in the post-settlement hours and was last seen trading at $63.95, where it was down 1.17% on the day.

According to the report published by  the American Petroleum Institute, crude oil inventories in the United States decreased by 3 million barrels for the week ending June 15 to 430.6 million to surpass the analysts’ expectation of a draw of 1.9 million barrels. Further details of the report revealed that  crude imports fell by 172,000 barrels per day to 8.1 million bpd  during the same time period. Nonetheless, the market reaction to the data was non-existent as investors remain focused on the OPEC summit.

Earlier in the session,  Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh argued that there wouldn’t be an agreement on rising oil output at the OPEC meeting and added that Iran would be against any arguments toward higher supply.  

On the other hand,  Kuwait’s energy minister stated that there were no specific scenarios  regarding the production ceiling explaining that they would be discussing production levels rather than specific price targets.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers will have a 2-hour closed session on Friday which will be followed by a press conference.