Crude oil futures pared most of their losses in the middle of the trading week on a drawdown in US supplies. Crude prices have slumped over the last week as geopolitical tensions ease. With the Federal Reserve’s May policy meeting in the rear-view mirror, investors are now concentrating on supply developments and demand trends.

June West Texas International (WTI) crude oil futures tumbled $0.21, or 0.27%, to $78.17 per barrel at 14:42 GMT on Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil was down as much as 1% midweek. Despite the 9% slide over the last month, WTI prices are up 10% year-to-date.

Brent, the international benchmark for oil prices, struggled to hold the $83 mark. July Brent crude futures shed $0.27, or 0.32%, to $82.89 per barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange. Brent prices are up nearly 8% year-to-date.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), domestic inventories of crude oil fell 1.361 million barrels for the week ending May 3, slightly lower than the consensus estimate of 1.43 million barrels. This was down from the previous week’s build of 7.265 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories advanced 915,000 barrels, up from the previous week’s increase of 344,000 barrels. The market forecast suggested a withdrawal of 1.18 million barrels. Heating oil stocks rose 285,000 barrels, while distillate supplies jumped 560,000 barrels.

Energy markets were taken aback by the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) supply injection of 509,000 barrels, which had defied market projections of a reduction of 1.43 million barrels.

Oil prices have struggled to maintain any momentum as the war risk premium diminishes. Additionally, trader sentiment soured on news that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak indicated the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, OPEC+, would potentially bolster output in the second half of 2024.

However, he retracted this statement soon after, confirming that “there is currently no discussion within OPEC+ on increasing oil output.”

In other energy commodities, June natural gas futures were flat at $2.207 per million British thermal units (Btu). June gasoline futures dropped $0.0307, or 1.21%, to $2.5127 a gallon. June heating oil futures slid $0.01, or 0.4%, to $2.46 per gallon.