Oil futures settled near a two-week low on Wednesday, as traders experienced a volatile day focusing on an increase in domestic output despite an unexpected decline in crude oil stockpiles, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October West Texas Intermediate crude fell by $1.32, or 2.9%, to settle at $43.58 a barrel. The contract traded nearly a dollar higher before the supply data, surged past $45 then retreated to the session low.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, November Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost $1.25, or 2.7%, to end trading at $45.85 a barrel after similar volatile moves.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration early Wednesday reported that domestic crude oil supplies fell by 600,000 barrels in the week ending September 9. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected a 3.3 million-barrel climb while the American Petroleum Institute reported an increase of 1.4 million barrels late Tuesday.
The EIA had previously reported a staggering 14.5 million-barrel drop in supplies for the week ending September 2.
The EIA report also showed that total domestic crude production rose by 35,000 barrels a day to 8.493 million barrels a day.
“U.S. output stats are showing signs of life,” said Chris Kettenmann, chief energy strategist at Macro Risk Advisors. He pointed out that in the lower 48 states, production increased by 5,000 barrels a day week over week, following a 15,000 barrels-per day ramp up recorded the previous week.
Meanwhile, October natural gas shed 2 cents, or 0.7%, to settle at $2.889 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ahead of the weekly EIA update Thursday on supplies of the commodity.
