Why Falling U.S. Inventories Fail To Lift Oil Prices

U.S. commercial crude stocks have been falling at a faster-than-usual pace this summer. Yet, the decline in inventories in the past four weeks has failed to ignite a rally in U.S. crude oil prices, or in Brent, amid lingering concerns about demand in the world’s top crude importer, China.    Even with rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, oil prices have just booked their third consecutive weekly drop despite draws in U.S. crude inventories reported by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the past few weeks.…