By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Oil was down Wednesday morning in Asia, with investors digesting a big build in U.S. crude oil stocks. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is also coming under increasing pressure to boost supply.
Brent oil futures fell 1.29% to $83.63 by 11:48 PM ET (3:48 AM GMT) and WTI futures slid 1.62% to $82.55.
U.S. crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute, released on Tuesday, showed a build of 3.594 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 29. Forecasts prepared by Investing.com had predicted a 1.567-million-barrel build, while a build of 2.318 million barrels was recorded during the previous week.
Investors now await crude oil supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, due later in the day.
"Crude oil lower as pressure mounted on OPEC to boost output. U.S. President Joe Biden led calls from major economies for the group to increase production beyond what has already been agreed," ANZ analysts said on a note.
Biden, speaking at the COP26 climate summit taking place in Glasgow, blamed a surge in oil and gas prices on a refusal by OPEC to pump more crude oil.
The cartel will meet on Nov. 4 to set output policy, which is widely expected to remain unchanged.
“OPEC is coming under more political pressure from importing countries to boost supply because oil prices are at the highest level in seven years,” Raymond James & Associates Inc. analyst Pavel Molchanov told Bloomberg.
“Balancing the question mark about demand with political pressure on the other end of the spectrum, it seems like maintaining status quo is the most logical approach for OPEC to take right now.”
Meanwhile, BP (NYSE:BP) said on Tuesday it will ramp up investments in its onshore U.S. shale oil and gas business to $1.5 billion in 2022 from $1 billion in 2021.