West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell below $99 a barrel by late Thursday morning in New York after trading above that level earlier, as markets weighed U.S. inventory figures alongside Middle East supply concerns.
Reuters reported WTI at $99.39 a barrel at 2:26 a.m. EDT (06:26 UTC), up $2.24, or 2.31%. At 10:45 a.m. EDT (14:45 UTC), Reuters put it at $98.29, up $1.14, or 1.2%. WTI’s early move was covered in EconoTimes’ report on the Shaybah incident.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) put commercial U.S. crude inventories, excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, at 412.5 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 16, 3% below the five-year average. The total was down 3.1 million barrels from a week earlier; a Reuters poll of analysts had forecast an 820,000-barrel decline.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said air defenses intercepted a drone trying to reach a facility at the Shaybah oil field on Oct. 21. The ministry said debris killed two residents, one Filipino and one Nepali, and injured two others, one Pakistani and one Indian. A contractor’s vehicle burned outside the facility boundary, but operations were unaffected.
Iranian state television attributed reports of vessel incidents near the Strait of Hormuz to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy. It said four vessels were hit during oil transfers and three others struck mines. The Associated Press said it could not independently verify the account.
The EIA’s next weekly petroleum report is scheduled for Oct. 28 at 10:30 a.m. ET.
