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Brent crude futures shed $1.70 to $83.07 a barrel by 0929 GMT
while West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude fell by $1.64 to
$79.22.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to have one more interest
rate rise in store, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on
Tuesday, as the central bank continues to battle inflation.
Markets are pricing in an 86% chance of the Fed raising rates by
25 basis points at its May policy meeting.
In Europe, European Central Bank officials are also wary of
inflation and have suggested that interest rates need to
continue rising.
"Figures released yesterday pointing to an accelerating Chinese
economy failed to provide a launch pad for energy prices to
rally," PVM Oil analyst Stephen Brennock said.
The economy of top crude oil importer China grew by a faster
than expected 4.5% in the first quarter and the country's oil
refinery throughput rose to record levels in March, data showed.
U.S. crude stocks, meanwhile, fell by about 2.68 million barrels
last week, market participants citing American Petroleum
Institute figures said on Tuesday. [API/S] Gasoline and
distillates inventories also fell last week, they said.
The official inventory report by the Energy Information
Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of
Energy, is due to be released at 1430 GMT on Wednesday.
Adding more pressure on oil benchmarks, Asian refiners have
continued to snap up Russian crude in April. India and China
have bought the vast majority of Russian oil so far in April at
prices above the Western price cap of $60 a barrel, according to
traders and Reuters calculations.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Muyu Xu in
SingaporeEditing by David Goodman)
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