Oil prices fell in early trading, Wednesday, as investors awaited the results of the US midterm elections and their potential repercussions on peace talks in the Middle East, despite data showing an unexpected decline in US crude inventories last week.
Brent crude futures fell 26 cents, or 0.25 percent, to $103.34 per barrel by 01:57 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 53 cents, or 0.55 percent, to $95.56.
Brent had ended Tuesday trading down by more than 1 percent, recording its lowest level in about four weeks, with traders weighing developments in the talks aimed at ending the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Vote counting continues in the US midterm elections, which will determine whether the Republican Party to which President Donald Trump belongs will maintain control of Congress during the remainder of his second presidential term.
Markets are also awaiting any progress in the talks aimed at ending the US-Israeli war with Iran, at a time when Qatar has intensified mediation efforts to avoid escalation of attacks after the US elections.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran and the United States are still far from reaching an agreement to end the war.
In a field development, the United States carried out strikes that it described as “defensive” on the Iranian island of Qeshm, during which it targeted surface-to-air missiles used against American assets, according to an American official. Another official said the strikes appeared limited and did not indicate a return to large-scale combat operations.
In a phone interview with the Financial Times on Tuesday, Trump said that the United States does not intend to launch new strikes on Iran at the present time, adding: “It seems that we are getting everything we want.”
Crude stocks
In terms of supplies, data from the American Petroleum Institute, according to market sources, showed on Wednesday that US crude oil inventories decreased by 5.27 million barrels during the week ending October 30.
Eight analysts polled by Reuters had expected, on average, a rise in inventories of about 880,000 barrels.
On the other hand, gasoline stocks rose by 1.43 million barrels, while distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by about 1.19 million barrels compared to the previous week.
Haitong Futures said in a note on Wednesday that diesel stocks remain limited, while gasoline stocks rose more than expected, adding that the data supports oil prices in general.
The US Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release official inventory data later Wednesday, at 10:30 am EST (15:30 GMT).
On Tuesday, the Binance platform issued a detailed investigation into the hacking operation that targeted its cryptocurrency platform, which resulted in the theft of more than $6 billion, revealing how hackers used fake job interviews and malicious software to steal money, according to Agence France-Presse.
The cryptocurrency trading platform said it had re-provided 98 percent of the affected assets using its own funds, while still seeking to secure the remaining percentage, which includes cryptocurrencies that are rarely traded and difficult to obtain.
The attack was carried out within about 4 hours on October 29, and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) accused hackers linked to North Korea of being behind it.
Pyongyang denounced these accusations, and the influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un said that they were “absurd” accusations.
Binance explained that about $2.85 billion out of the $6.34 billion stolen had been frozen, preventing the pirates from using this money or converting it to other currencies.
Binance is the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world in terms of daily trading volume. The announcement of the hack, which is believed to be the largest of its kind in the history of cryptocurrency theft, led to a sharp decline in the prices of most major cryptocurrencies.
Binance said that the attackers began preparing to hack the platform in June.
Initially, the hackers targeted one of the platform's engineers, by forcing him to download a malware-equipped version of the Homebrew program, which is widely known among programmers.
Binance's cybersecurity teams were able to detect and remove the malware, but the hackers had collected information about the engineer and his colleagues.
In September, the attackers contacted another Binance engineer through a trusted job search platform and offered him an interview for a position at a fake company.
After gaining the engineer’s trust by sharing photos and video clips on social media, they asked him to download a file containing a practical test, as part of the job interview procedures.
Binance said the test included malware that used “sophisticated camouflage and evasion techniques,” including replacing a component of an original development tool with a malicious copy.
This malicious software was a decisive factor in the success of the attack; It enabled hackers to access Binance's internal systems.
On October 20, attackers used their access, along with an internal AI tool, to take control of software used by two other engineers.
After 9 days, they activated malicious code that launched the attack.
