(New York) Oil prices fell on Wednesday, facing the prospect of supply rising faster than demand, including a larger-than-expected increase in American reserves.

A barrel of North Sea Brent for January delivery lost 1.56% to $81.18.

Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in December, fell 2.04% to $76.66.

After rising slightly the day before, while the slowdown in US inflation year-on-year in October weakened the dollar, oil prices were again influenced on Wednesday by “fundamental” market trends, recalled Stephen Innes, analyst of SPI AM, in this case, the prospects of supply rising faster than demand in a world economy out of steam.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday that the “market may be less tight than expected in the fourth quarter, attributing this to strong production gains outside the OPEC alliance”, Brazil and the United States in particular, noted the analyst.

This trend is reflected by the sharp decline in crude prices over the past three weeks – Brent, the European benchmark, having fallen by almost 16% since a peak at the end of September – despite the war between Israel and Hamas and risks of the conflict extending to a region where there are significant producing countries.

In the meantime, as the Northern Hemisphere enters winter, the market nevertheless remains “vulnerable to economic and geopolitical risks” and subject to “more volatility”, underlined the IEA in its monthly oil report published Tuesday.

Later in the session, prices accelerated their decline after the publication of a stronger than expected increase in US weekly crude oil inventories.

For the week ended November 10, crude reserves increased by 3.6 million barrels, according to figures from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), as analysts expected a increase of 2 million barrels.