Oil prices continue to fall ahead of US inventories data

Crude prices remain above the level needed to encourage US producers to increase production, some analysts say.

Oil fell for a third straight session on Wednesday as investors locked in profits from recent gains while looking ahead to inventories data from the United States due later in the day for pointers on where prices will head next. Brent crude for May dropped 56 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $66.96 a barrel by 0414 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude for April was at $63.56 a barrel, down 45 cents, or 0.7 percent. Prices gained support last week from the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied producers – collectively known as OPEC+ – to largely maintain production cuts in April. They then initially jumped on Monday, with Brent rising above $70 a barrel, after attacks by Yemeni Houthis on Saudi Arabia’s oil heartland, before settling back as the alarm subsided.