Oil declines with demand slump, recession fears in US

By Zeynep Beyza Kilic

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices fell on Thursday after an unexpected rise in US oil inventories indicated low demand in the country.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $87.08 per barrel at 10 a.m. local time (0700 GMT), a 0.29% decrease from the closing price of $87.33 a barrel in the previous trading session.

Simultaneously, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $83.15 per barrel, down 0.13% from the previous session's close of $83.26 per barrel.

Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Wednesday showed that US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 600,000 barrels to 470.5 million barrels during the week ending April 7, against the market expectation of a draw of 1.3 million barrels.

The oil inventory increase signals a drop in demand in the world's largest oil consumer, putting downward pressure on prices.

The US Federal Reserve expects the recent banking turmoil to push the nation’s economy into "a mild recession" later this year, according to its minutes released Wednesday.

Recession fears further supported the fall in oil prices.