Oil futures retreated on Wednesday, reversing Tuesday’s gains following the release of a government report indicating a significant increase in gasoline reserves, according to a Bloomberg MarketWatch report.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude dropped $2.05, or 4.4%, to settle at $44.75 a barrel.
September Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell $2.21, or 4.6%, to settle at $46.26 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Late Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an unforeseen weekly surge of 1.2 million barrels of surplus gasoline.
“The increase in gasoline inventories and coinciding selloff in the commodity price” is an interesting development, said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
Meanwhile, August natural gas finished up less than half a cent at $2.737 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
