Oil prices closed lower on Wednesday amid a surprise rise in crude inventories.
Crude oil inventories surprisingly rose 2.2 million barrels in the November 3 week to 457.1 million, 5.7 percent below the level a year ago, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report Wednesday.
The increase in crude stocks came as a surprise to market participants in light of Tuesday's report from the American Petroleum Institute (API), a private industry group, showing a drawdown of around 1.6 million barrels.
Oil prices dropped immediately following the release of the EIA report.
Meanwhile, analysts said investors also tended to take profit after oil prices posted solid gains earlier this week.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was down 0.39 U.S. dollar to settle at 56.81 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery lost 0.20 dollar to close at 63.49 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Crude oil inventories surprisingly rose 2.2 million barrels in the November 3 week to 457.1 million, 5.7 percent below the level a year ago, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report Wednesday.
The increase in crude stocks came as a surprise to market participants in light of Tuesday's report from the American Petroleum Institute (API), a private industry group, showing a drawdown of around 1.6 million barrels.
Oil prices dropped immediately following the release of the EIA report.
Meanwhile, analysts said investors also tended to take profit after oil prices posted solid gains earlier this week.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery was down 0.39 U.S. dollar to settle at 56.81 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery lost 0.20 dollar to close at 63.49 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
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