Oil prices plunged Wednesday as U. S. crude stockpiles increased unexpectedly. U.S. crude supplies of last week gained 4.8 million barrels to 490.7 million barrels, 110.7 million barrels more than one year ago, according to the weekly report issued by the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) Wednesday.
Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U. S. contract added 0.6 million barrels to 60.06 million barrels. U.S. crude production added 12,000 to 9.176 million barrels a day last week, according to the EIA report.
Oil prices were dragged down by the global supply glut. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided on Dec. 4 to keep crude production pumping at the current level in the already oversupplied market. The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery moved down 1. 83 U.S. dollars to settle at 35.52 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery decreased 1.26 dollars to close at 37.19 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
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