There is a decline of 5% in oil prices yesterday and hence they lost most of the gains they made in last 2 days. Brent is trading at $37 per barrel after the contract roll over and WTI costs more than $35 per barrel.

This differential between the two futures contracts with February maturity date is 50 cents in Brent side and WTI was trading at 50 US cent premium for a time versus Brent.

"The renewed price slide and renewed reversal of the price differential were prompted by the inventory data published in the afternoon by the US Department of Energy, which show that US crude oil stocks rose by a surprisingly steep 4.8 million barrels last week. An inventory reduction of 600,000 barrels had been anticipated", says Commerzbank in a research note.

API reported a 2.3 mn barrel rise in crude oil stocks on the previous day. The stocks normally reduce when year end approaches as the refineries ramp up their processing rate to produce heating oil.Add to Anti-Banner