Oil prices dropped on Wednesday on a surprise gain in crude oil inventories in the United States and as investors continued to worry about demand for fuel being squeezed amid tighter lockdowns in Europe to counter the coronavirus pandemic.
Brent crude futures were down two cents at $50.74 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were unchanged at $47.62 per barrel.
Information released by the industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed crude inventories swelled by two million barrels in the week to Dec. 11 to about 495 million barrels.
Analysts had expected a draw of 1.9 million barrels, according to a Reuters poll. Official government data was scheduled for Wednesday.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned the rollout of vaccines this month to combat the coronavirus pandemic will not quickly reverse the destruction wrought on global oil demand.
The IEA revised down its estimates for oil demand this year by 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) and for next year by 170,000 bpd, citing sparing jet fuel use as fewer people travel by air.
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