Oil is stable amid rising inventories and expectations of a recovery in demand in 2023

Oil prices were largely stable on Wednesday, amid bleak signs from data on a surprise build in US crude stockpiles and forecasts by OPEC and the International Energy Agency for oil demand to recover over the next year.

Brent crude futures fell 17 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $80.51 a barrel by 0926 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 3 cents to $75.36.

US crude inventories rose by 7.8 million barrels in the week ending December 9, according to market sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute, while analysts polled by Reuters expected a decline in stocks of 3.6 million barrels.

Government data is expected at 1530 GMT.

Inventory data overshadowed the high sentiment that pushed the market up 3% in the previous session on hopes of a recovery in demand in China with the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, and due to the weakness of the dollar after data showed declining inflation in the United States.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its 2023 outlook that oil demand will grow by 2.25 million barrels per day over the next year to 101.8 million barrels per day, with a possible increase from China.

On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency raised its estimate for oil demand in 2023 to an increase of 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 101.6 million bpd.

The market also received support this week from the leakage and outage of TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline, which transports 620,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude to the United States.

Officials said it would take at least several weeks to fix.