On the back of a rising U.S. dollar and the fear of another U.S. rate increase oil declined today despite a draw in crude oil inventories. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) for May delivery fell $1.70 per barrel, or 2.1% to settle at $79.16 per barrel, while the June WTI contract, which becomes the U.S. front-month at the end of trading on Thursday, also lost 2.1% to settle at $79.24 per barrel. Brent futures for June delivery fell US$1.65 per barrel, or 2.0%, to settle at US$83.12 per barrel. According to the EIA commercial crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the week ending April 7 to 466 million barrels – crude stocks at Cushing fell by 1.1 million barrels. Refinery runs rose by 259,000 barrels per day, and refinery utilization rates rose by 1.7% to 91% percent of total capacity. The bottom line is despite lower inventories the market at least for today is worried that rising interest rates will lead to further demand destruction.