Oil prices fell on Wednesday, pressured by expectations of rising crude inventories in the United States, which overshadowed the impact of a temporary production halt at two of Kazakhstan's largest oil fields, amid escalating global geopolitical pressures.
Brent crude futures fell 1.2% to $64.16 a barrel , while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 1.04% to $59.73 a barrel .
Both crude oils had made strong gains in yesterday's session by about one dollar per barrel, supported by Kazakhstan's announcement that it had halted production at the Tengiz and Korolev fields since last Sunday due to energy distribution problems, along with positive economic data from China.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the production halt at the two fields could last an additional 7 to 10 days , but analysts believe this impact is temporary and not enough to support prices in the near term.
In this context, Tony Sycamore , a market analyst at IG, said that downward pressures still dominate oil prices, amid expectations of increased US crude inventories, in addition to escalating global geopolitical tensions.
Markets came under further pressure following comments by US President Donald Trump , who threatened to impose new tariffs on European countries if an agreement is not reached that gives the United States control over Greenland , stressing that he "will not back down" from this goal.
In the same context, a preliminary Reuters survey showed that crude oil and gasoline inventories in the United States likely rose during the past week, while distillate inventories are expected to decline.
Analysts estimated that U.S. crude inventories rose by about 1.7 million barrels last week, adding to the pressure on oil prices in the short term.
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