Oil steadies below $70 amid surge in stockpile and trade hopes

Oil steadied below $70 a barrel in London, a level not breached since November, as a surprise surge in US crude stockpiles showed that markets remain adequately supplied. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, reversed earlier losses to rise 0.4 percent. American stockpiles surged by the most since January last week, according to Energy Information Administration figures on Wednesday, with a 7.24 million-barrel increase that surpassed analyst and industry estimates. Still, optimism that the US and China are getting closer to a trade agreement is bullish for prices.

Oil has climbed about 30 percent in London this year with consensus growing that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies’ output-cut deal will probably be extended. Unplanned supply losses from Iran and Venezuela are also increasingly tightening the market. But as clouds linger over the global economy, and a new flood of shale-oil pours in from the US, the rally has failed to reach last year’s highs.



Brent for June settlement traded 25 cents higher at $69.56 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at 12:39 p.m local time.