Business Corpus: Energy Stocks, Crude Prices Fall As U.S. Supplies Boom, OPEC Cuts Demand OutlookOil stocks and crude futures continued to fall Thursday as U.S. supplies and production rose while OPEC cut its oil-demand outlook. The post Energy Stocks, Crude Prices Fall As U.S. Supplies Boom, OPEC Cuts Demand Outlook appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

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Energy stocks and crude oil futures continued to fall Thursday amid a volatile stock market and lower crude futures as OPEC cut its demand outlook while U.S. supplies and production rose.

Crude Inventory, Production Data

U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.987 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect crude supplies to increase by 1.61 million barrels. But late Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said stockpiles rose by 9.7 million barrels.

Gasoline supplies grew by 951,000 barrels.

U.S. crude production hit a new record high of 11.2 million barrels per day, up from 11.1 million bpd last week.

OPEC Oil Demand Forecast Cut

In its latest oil monthly oil market report, OPEC forecast global oil demand rising by 1.54 million barrels per day in 2018, a reduction of about 80,000 bpd from its August report. OPEC sees demand growth rising by 1.36 million bpd next year, or 50,000 bpd less than in its August report.

"While growth in the major OECD economies remains well supported, decelerating trends have become visible in some emerging markets and developing countries," OPEC said in the report.

On the supply side, OPEC sees output from outside the cartel rising by 200,000 bpd to 2.22 million bpd this year. But it sees non-OPEC supply growth of 2.12 million bpd in 2019, or 30,000 bpd less than in its prior report.

The cartel produced 32.76 million bpd in September, up by 132,000 bpd from August. Saudi Arabia's output jumped by 108,000 bpd to 10.5 million bpd.

Iran's production fell by 150,000 bpd to 3.4 million bpd, according to secondary sources cited in the report. But Iran still claims it's pumping just shy of 3.8 million bpd.

Crude Futures Fall

Brent tumbled 3.4% to $80.26 per barrel and U.S. crude fell 3% to $70.97. Both are still near four-year highs.

OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo warned that geopolitical factors and supply shortage worries outside OPEC's control are "overwhelming" the oil market, according to the Financial Times.

"Extraneous, non-fundamental events can hurt stability efforts," Barkindo said at the Oil & Money conference in London. "We are working hard to mitigate these compound effects and uncertainties."