By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Oil was down on Thursday morning in Asia, with a draw in U.S. crude oil supplies smaller than expected. Doubt also remains as to whether the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) will be able to meet its output hike for February.
Brent oil futures were down 1.06% to $79.94 by 10:17 PM ET (3:17 AM GMT) and crude oil WTI futures were down 1.01% to $77.06.
Wednesday’s U.S. crude oil supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a draw of 2.144 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 31. Forecasts prepared by Investing.com predicted a draw of 3.283 million while a draw of 3.576 million was recorded during the previous week.
Crude oil supply data from the American Petroleum Institute released the day before, showed a draw of 6.432 million barrels.
Meanwhile, OPEC+ agreed on Tuesday to increase another 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of supply for February. However, some investors are not confident that the agreed output hike will be met.
“Outside of Saudi Arabia, OPEC is seeing a challenge in increasing production,” Tortoise portfolio manager Matt Sallee told Bloomberg.
“The more months we roll forward and OPEC is unable to demonstrate adding 400,000 barrels a day of supply, it could start to spook the market,” he added.
Adding pressure on oil prices, the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s December meeting indicated the central bank is likely to interest rates quicker than expected. In Asia Pacific, Hong Kong tightened its COVID-19 restrictive measures on Wednesday.