(Bloomberg) -- Oil retreated from the highest close since 2014 after President Joe Biden pledged to continue trying to lower prices and an industry report pointed to a modest increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.
Futures in New York slipped toward $86 a barrel after advancing almost 6% over the past three sessions. While Biden does have some options to address the increase in oil prices, many of them would be limited and likely be short-lived. The American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. crude inventories rose by 1.4 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data.
Oil has rallied around 30% since the end of November as stronger than expected demand and supply outages significantly tightened the market, leading to buyers in Asia paying sharply higher premiums for spot cargoes. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS). is forecasting a return to $100 crude in the third quarter, and the International Energy Agency said in a report Wednesday that demand is on track to hit pre-pandemic levels.
Biden told reporters on Wednesday that the administration would work on trying to increase supplies that are available, adding that it would be hard. That followed comments on Tuesday that authorities were working with oil-producing countries to ensure supply rises to meet demand.
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