05.03.202508:17:00UTC+00Oil Extends Losses On Oversupply Fears

Oil extended losses for a third day running on Wednesday amid the prospect of higher supplies from OPEC+.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were down 0.3 percent at $70.85 a barrel in European trade while WTI crude futures dipped 0.7 percent to $67.78.

There are concerns about possible excess supply in the market after OPEC and its allies signaled plans to increase production next month.

OPEC and OPEC+ have withheld production since the pandemic to support prices and are still keeping over six million barrels off the market.

Investors also weighed a possible drop in oil demand in the face of escalating trade tensions.

It is feared that U.S. President Donald Trump's "tariffs on steroids" agenda may keep inflation higher and could tip the global economy into recession.

As tariff and growth worries mount, investors shrugged off industry data that showed a larger than expected draw in U.S. crude oil inventories.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimated that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.455 million barrels for the week ending February 28 while analysts had expected a smaller 300,000-barrel draw.

Markets now await official inventory data from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) later in the day for further direction.