Oil prices fall for the first time in 5 sessions

Oil drilling rigs

Oil prices fell today, Jan. 14, after four sessions of gains, amid reports that Venezuela had resumed crude exports and as markets awaited the release of US inventory data.

Brent crude was trading down 0.35% at $65.24 a barrel, at 09:22 am Makkah time. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 0.4% to $60.90 a barrel.

Estimates from the American Petroleum Institute showed that crude oil inventories in the US rose by about 5.2 million barrels during the week ended Jan. 9, while official data, due to be released today, is expected to show a decline in crude oil inventories.

This comes after two giant tankers left Venezuelan waters earlier this week, each carrying about 1.8 million barrels of crude oil, in what could be the first shipments of the 50 million barrel oil supply agreement between Caracas and Washington, Reuters reported.