Oil falls slightly on demand expectations in China

Global oil prices fell on February 3 morning in anticipation of signs of recovery in oil demand in China, Report informs referring to the auction data.

The price of April futures for Brent crude fell by 0.26% to $81.96 per barrel, March futures for WTI decreased by 0.32% to $75.64.

Since the beginning of the week, the cost of Brent and WTI may show a decrease of 5.4% and 4.7%, respectively. This may happen against the backdrop of the publication of US Department of Energy statistics on oil reserves.

On February 1, the Department of Energy reported an increase in weekly commercial oil inventories in the country by 4.1 million barrels, to 452.7 million barrels. Experts expected an increase in stocks by only 0.4 million barrels. This could be the second consecutive week of decline in oil prices.