The price of WTI is falling despite declining inventories

They also agreed that the 2% drop in price occurred as investors were weighing their concerns about the difficult economic situation in China and expectations of lower supply in the United States.

Meanwhile, in the London market, Brent crude from the North Sea lost $1.44, or 1.7 percent, this Wednesday, and traded at the close at $83.45 a barrel.

Experts commented that both WTI and Brent crude, the reference oils in their markets, completed three consecutive sessions of negative results today.

Specialized sources said that the two indicators fell on the previous day, Tuesday, by more than one percent, and reached their lowest level since the eighth of this month.

According to a report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), US black gold and gasoline inventories fell in the previous week, a period when distillate stocks rose.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates LLC, said this week’s decline has offset the previous week’s unexpected increase of six million barrels.

He added that looking into the next week, we may see a sharp drop in exports which is likely to lead to a seasonal build-up of crude oil reserves.

Analysts say the slowdown in China’s economy is in the spotlight, after retail sales, industrial production and investment numbers fell short of expectations, raising fears of a deeper and more permanent slowdown in growth.

They added that this activity data for the month of July raised more concerns about the economy of that Asian country and hit the prices of black gold in this session.

rgh/rs