(Bloomberg) -- Oil held near the highest level in seven years after an industry report pointed to another increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.
Futures in New York were steady near $83 a barrel in early Asian trading after advancing more than 3% over the past four sessions. The American Petroleum Institute reported crude inventories climbed by 3.29 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the figures. That would be a fourth weekly expansion if confirmed by official government data later Wednesday.
Oil has rallied to the highest level since 2014 as an energy crunch coincided with rebounding demand from economies recovering from the pandemic. Russia is signaling that it won’t go out of its way to offer Europe extra natural gas to ease the current crisis unless it gets regulatory approval to start shipments through the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
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At least one technical indicator is signaling oil could be due for a pullback, however. Both WTI and Brent are above 70 on the 14-day Relative Strength Index, a level that signals crude is overbought.
U.S. gasoline and distillate stockpiles -- a category that includes diesel -- both declined last week, the API said. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey forecast the Energy Information Administration will report nationwide crude inventories increased by 2 million barrels.
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