Futures Pros – Crude oil futures dipped on Wednesday, dropping to a daily low as investors awaited the release of key weekly data on U.S. crude oil supplies. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in March traded at USD87.20 a barrel during European morning trade, shedding 0.13%. It earlier fell to a daily low of USD87.08 a barrel. Later in the day, the U.S. Energy Information Administration was to release its closely-watched crude oil inventories report for the week ended February 4. The data could show that U.S. crude oil stockpiles increased for a fourth week, rising by 2.25 million barrels, while gasoline inventories were expected to increase by 3 million barrels. The projected increase would leave gasoline stockpiles at the highest since March 1990. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group said in its weekly report that U.S. crude supplies declined by 558,000 barrels last week, while gasoline stocks rose by 3.2 million barrels. The U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of crude oil. Meanwhile, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for March delivery gained 0.47% to trade at USD100.58 a barrel, up USD13.38 on its U.S. counterpart. Elsewhere, natural gas for March delivery slumped 1.5% to trade at an eight-week low of USD4.003 per million British thermal units, while heating oil for March delivery added 0.19% to trade at USD2.742 per gallon during European morning trade.

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