Crude oil futures seesawed on Wednesday, settling lower after a volatile trading session caused weekly government reports revealing a third-consecutive weekly increase in U.S. crude oil inventories, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March West Texas Intermediate crude fell 43 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $52.75 a barrel.
March Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled at $55.08 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, down 36 cents, or 0.7%.
President Donald Trump’s promise to support the U.S. oil industry has encouraged analysts to raise their forecasts of growth in U.S. oil production, which is already benefiting from higher prices.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported an increase of 2.8 million barrels in domestic crude oil supplies for the week ending January 20. That was in line with the 2.9 million-barrel climb reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday. Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal were looking for a rise of 2.1 million barrels, while S&P Global Platts analysts forecast a climb of 1.9 million barrels.
Meanwhile, February natural gas edged up by 5.3 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $3.332 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, ahead of an EIA update on natural gas supplies due Thursday.
