Oil prices are falling on Thursday on signals of a weakening demand for gasoline in the US.
The US Department of Energy on Wednesday reported an increase in gasoline inventories in the country last week by 3.5 million barrels, to 228.4 million barrels. Meanwhile, the average US gasoline consumption over the past four weeks showed that rising fuel prices have limited its consumption to two years ago, Bloomberg notes.
By 8:15 am Moscow time, September Brent futures fell by $0.89 (0.83%) on the London ICE Futures exchange, to $106.03 per barrel. On Wednesday, Brent fell $0.43 (0.4%) to $106.92 per barrel.
By that time, September futures for WTI were falling in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by $1.02 (1.02%), to $98.86 per barrel. During the previous session, the contract fell by $0.86 (0.9%) to $99.88 per barrel.
“U.S. gasoline demand is not too strong, despite the fact that now is the peak consumption season,” said Zhaojin Futures Co. analyst Gao Jian. decrease.”
Traders are also monitoring the situation around the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Gas pipeline operator Nord Stream AG said on Thursday that Russian gas supplies through it had resumed after technical work had been carried out since July 11.