WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, after data from U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a much larger than expected increase in crude inventories last week.
Worries about demand growth due to weak Chinese economic outlook weighed as well on crude oil prices. Output reduction by OPEC and its allies and talks of more aggressive cuts by Russia too impacted oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.34, or 0.6%, at $56.22 a barrel.
On Tuesday, crude oil futures for April down $0.03, at $56.56 a barrel.
Data released by the Energy Information Administration this morning showed that crude stockpiles in the U.S. were up by 7.07 million barrels in the week to March 1. That was up almost six times the expected increase.
A week earlier, oil stockpiles had dropped by 8.65 million barrels.
EIA report said gasoline inventories were down 4.23 million barrels last week, higher than the expected decline. Distillate stockpiles, including diesel, decreased by 2.39 million barrels, notably lower than the expected drop.
Late on Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute released a report that said crude supplies in the U.S. increased by a much more than expected 7.3 million barrels in the week ended March 1. API also said that gasoline stockpiles fell by 391,000 barrels, while distillate inventories were down by 3.1 million barrels last week.
Meanwhile, the Organization for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) has cut forecasts for the global economy in 2019 and 2020, warning that trade disputes and uncertainty over Brexit would hit world commerce and businesses.
The OECD has now forecast that the world economy would grow 3.3% in 2019 and 3.4% in 2020.
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