WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by official data showing a jump in crude stockpiles in the week ended October 5th, and on concerns about outlook for energy demand from China.
A stronger U.S. dollar weighed as well on crude oil prices. The dollar surged higher against most of its major rivals with traders looking ahead to the crucial U.S. consumer price inflation data, due on Thursday.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.08 or about 3.5% at $85.83 a barrel, going down for the third consecutive session. The contract closed at a more than 2-week high.
Brent crude futures settled at $92.65 a barrel, giving up $2.71 or about 2.8%.
Data released by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles surged 3.9 million barrels last week to 440.8 million barrels.
The data showed gasoline stocks in the U.S. dropped by 900,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles fell by about 500,000 barrels.
The EIA data also sowed that crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, fell by 1 million barrels last week. Total domestic petroleum production climbed by 200,000 barrels per day to 12.1 million barrels per day, the data said.
Meanwhile, with Covid-19 cases seeing a surge, China is unlikely to relax restrictions anytime soon, and this could significantly hurt demand for oil in the world's second largest economy.
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