The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for August delivery shed 3.02 U.S. dollars, or 4.16 percent, to settle at 69.51 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery lost 2.98 U.S. dollars, or 3.86 percent, to settle at 74.14 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
WTI oil pulled back below the level of 70 U.S. dollars per barrel as traders focused on rate hike fears and ignored the bullish oil inventory report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, noted Vladimir Zernov, analyst with market information supplier FX Empire.
Central banks in Britain and Norway lifted benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points on Thursday, higher than forecast consensus of 25 basis points, which dampened economic growth and oil demand outlook.
Moreover, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday said U.S. federal fund rates may be hiked two times if the economy continues to perform as projected.
Oil and gold tumble as central bank tightening threatens global outlook, said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, a supplier of online multi-asset trading services.
U.S. commercial crude oil inventories dropped by 3.8 million barrels week on week in the week ending June 16, bigger than market expectations, according to data issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Thursday.
Meanwhile, U.S. gasoline and distillate fuel inventories increased by 0.5 million barrels and 0.4 million barrels from the previous week, respectively.
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