WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite staging a strong recovery after early weakness, crude oil futures ended in negative territory on Wednesday.
Crude oil futures for March ended down $0.39, or 0.7%, at $52.62 a barrel, well off the day's low of $51.87.
Oil futures rose to a high of $53.64 today, with traders speculating a likely U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil. Traders were also hoping that U.S. crude stockpiles may have declined last week.
Traders were looking ahead to the weekly oil report from the American Petroleum Institute, due later in the day.
On Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its crude inventory report for the week ended January 18.
The EIA expects shale output to rise further, but is of the view that production growth will slow in the coming years.
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