Oil prices cut some of their gains Wednesday, after U.S. overnment data showed a sharp buildup in crude stockpiles, contradicting an earlier industry report that indicated lower inventories.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported U.S. commercial crude inventories rose by two million barrels to a total of 540.6 million barrels in the previous week.
A survey of analysts on Tuesday forecast an U.S. crude stock build of 2.4 million barrels for last week, before the American Petroleum Institute (API) surprised traders and investors by reporting a drawdown of 1.1 million barrels.
EIA said gasoline inventories rose by 1.6 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel stocks fell by 1.7 million barrels.
EIA also reported U.S. crude production continued to retreat. Output has fallen to 8.93 million barrels per day (bpd) from a high of nearly 9.7 million bpd in April 2015.
Brent crude futures were up 52 cents at $46.26 U.S. a barrel by noon hour ET Wednesday, having hit a 2016 peak of $47.05 U.S. earlier in the day. The international benchmark has risen nearly 20% in April, its largest one-month gain in a year.
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