WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices drifted lower on Thursday after data showed an increase in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended September 4th.
Lingering concerns about a possible drop in near-term energy demand due to the surge in coronavirus cases in several parts of the world, and easing of output curbs by OPEC+ also contributed to oil's weakness.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $0.75 or about 2% at $37.30 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were down $0.25 or about 0.6% at $40.54 a barrel.
According to data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) this morning, crude inventories in U.S. increased by about 2 million barrels last week, as against expectations for a draw of 1.3 million barrels. Crude inventories saw a draw of 9.4 million barrels a week earlier.
At the Cushing facility in Oklahoma, oil stockpiles rose by 1.8 million barrels.
The EIA report also showed that gasoline inventory dropped by 2.9 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.7 million barrels.
According to a report from the American Petroleum Institute Wednesday evening, oil stockpiles rose by 2.970 million barrels during the week ended September 4, as against expectations for a 1.2 million barrels drawdown.
Gasoline supplies dropped by 6.892 million barrels, while distillate inventories increased 2.293 million barrels last week.
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