Crude-oil futures trading lower in Asia

Crude-oil futures trading lower in AsiaAccording to the latest figures released, the crude-oil futures were trading lower in the Asian market on Wednesday on indications that the US stock pile is rising.

The figures showed that the light, sweet crude futures for delivery in April on the New York Mercantile Exchange was trading at $101.62 a barrel, which is $0.21 lower in the Globex electronic session. The April Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange recorded a fall of $0.23 to $109.28 a barrel.

Data showed that US crude oil inventories recorded an increase of 800,000 barrels in the week till 21 February, 2014. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, showed that the US stock reserve rose by 800,000 barrels. The U. S. Energy Information Administration is expected to announce its survey in the coming week.

Oil markets have said that that are focusing on building U. S. oil stockpiles as refineries are closed for maintenance works. U. S. regulators issued emergency rules requiring extensive tests on crude oil transported by rail following recent rail accidents. The ruling may affect the mobility of crude oil in the US and increase costs.