Oil prices have witnessed a fall after the industry group the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) data showed an increase in US crude stocks.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 slipped 9 cents to $64.18 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 edged down 12 cents to $58.29 per barrel, Reuters reported.

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The decline in oil prices reversed two days of increases on hopes that the world’s two biggest crude oil users, China and the US, would soon sign a preliminary agreement putting an end to their trade dispute.

US President Donald Trump said that the country is close to signing an agreement with China on the first phase of their trade deal.

Data released by the API highlighted an increase in US crude inventories by 3.6 million barrels in the week ending 22 November 2019 to 449.6 million, which is against analysts’ expectations for a 418,000 barrels decline.

Phillip Futures analyst Benjamin Lu was quoted by Reuters as saying: “Strong builds in US inventories have kept bullish gains measured as markets remain cautious over shaky economic fundamentals and demand-side concerns.”

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Investors are awaiting official inventory data to be published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

ING analyst Warren Patterson said in a note that this would be the fifth straight week of increase in crude stocks in case the EIA numbers are similar those published by the API.

However, oil prices are receiving some support due to optimism on trade worldwide, along with market expectations for supply cuts extension by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its members, Lu added.