Oil Prices Dip on Rising U.S. Inventories and Oversupply Concerns
Oil prices eased in early Asian trading on Wednesday, as reported by Yahoo Finance, with traders reacting to another rise in U.S. oil inventories and mounting signals that global supply is running ahead of demand.
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At the time of writing, WTI was trading at $60.59 per barrel, down 0.25% on the session, while Brent slipped to $64.71, down by roughly 0.3%. The drop came after prices had climbed in the previous session following a statement from President of the United States Donald Trump announcing interviews for a new Fed chair, which briefly lifted risk sentiment.
The latest report from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. commercial crude stocks rising by about 4.4 million barrels in the week to 14 November, with gasoline and distillate inventories also posting builds. A survey compiled by The Wall Street Journal suggests that analysts are expecting a third straight weekly increase in crude inventories in the EIA’s figures, which will be released later today.
The broader supply backdrop has turned steadily more bearish over the past few months, with the IEA warning that the 2026 oil glut could be worse than feared. U.S. crude production climbed to record levels last week, even as drilling activity slowed. New customs and production data out of China show that the world’s biggest crude importer has been using the recent price moderation to rebuild strategic and commercial stocks rather than ramping up refinery runs.
Reuters analysis of October flows estimates that China’s combined domestic production and imports exceeded refinery throughput by about 690,000 bpd, the latest in a string of monthly surpluses that have added some 900,000 bpd to stockpiles since March.
A new oil market outlook from Goldman Sachs this week projects a roughly 2 million bpd global surplus in 2026 as delayed long-cycle projects come online, OPEC+ unwinds more of its remaining cuts, and non-OPEC supply from the U.S. and Brazil continues to edge higher. The bank now sees Brent averaging about $56 and WTI about $52 in 2026, well below current forward prices, with the International Energy Agency’s latest projections pointing to an even larger potential surplus if demand growth underperforms.
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