By Eric Yep
Crude-oil futures extended losses in Asian trade Wednesday on
bearish U.S. stockpile data, and as markets await the next wave of
sanctions against Russia.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures
for delivery in September traded at $102.09 a barrel at 0620 GMT,
down $0.30 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude
on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.09 to $107.24 a
barrel.
Late Tuesday, data from the American Petroleum Institute, a
trade body, showed a 555,000-barrel decline in U.S. crude stocks,
for the week ended July 18. It also said gasoline and distillate
stocks fell last week.
The data was bearish overall, with a smaller-than-expected draw
from U.S. oil inventories and a larger-than-expected build in the
oil products stocks, analyst Tim Evans at Citi Futures said.
The more closely watched inventory report from the U.S. Energy
Information Administration is due later Wednesday and analysts
expect inventories to have fallen by 2.5 million barrels.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence officials have presented their most
detailed case yet that Russian-backed Ukrainian separatists shot
down a Malaysia Airlines jetliner last week.
Malaysia is studying actions that can be taken according to
international law in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in
Ukraine, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Wednesday.
Mr. Evans said the Brent crude market "remains relatively
subdued and complacent regarding the potential supply ripple
effects related to increased sanctions against Russia over events
in Ukraine" or the insurgency in Iraq, or the militia battles in
Libya.
Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark
gasoline contract--fell 107 points to $2.8700 a gallon, while
August heating oil traded at $2.8523, 19 points lower.
ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $880.25 a metric ton,
down $2.25 from Tuesday's settlement.
Write to Eric Yep at eric.yep@wsj.com