Weary of increasing doubts that Iraq will agree to an OPEC production cut, crude oil prices settled at their lowest level in nearly three weeks on Wednesday, according to a report by Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, December West Texas Intermediate crude fell by 78 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $49.18 a barrel, marking its lowest finish since October 4. Earlier in the day, prices traded as low as $48.90, shortly before the supply inventory report.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, December Brent crude fell 81 cents, or 1.6%, to end trading at $49.98 a barrel, settling under $50 for the first time this month.
Early Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed that U.S. crude oil supplies fell by 600,000 barrels in the week ending October 21. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected a 400,000-barrel climb, while the American Petroleum Institute reported a hefty rise of 4.8 million barrels late Tuesday.
The EIA report also showed a climb of 40,000 barrels a day in total domestic crude production to 8.504 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, November natural gas fell 4.3 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $2.731 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, extending its loss to a sixth straight session ahead of the release of the EIA supply data.