Oil prices fell on Wednesday after the U.S. government revealed an unexpected increase in crude and gasoline stocks, but an improvement in refining runs and a dropoff in distillate stocks helped prices bounce off session lows.
While the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a crude build of 1.9 million barrels - more than forecast -- it was not as sizable as the increase of 6.5 million barrels reported Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute. It appears, the EIA data encouraged buying at session lows.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude finished Wednesday's session down 37 cents at $55.33 U.S. per barrel, following a nearly 2% decline in the previous session.
Brent crude futures were down 38 cents at $61.83 U.S. per barrel late in the afternoon, having fallen by 1.5% on Tuesday, its largest one-day drop in a month.
On Tuesday, the IEA cut its oil demand growth forecast by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) for both 2017 and 2018, which could mean world oil consumption may not breach 100 million bpd next year as many had expected.
