Oil Closes at Lowest Level in a Week

Oil prices declined on Wednesday after data showed an increase in the United States crude oil inventories, spurring once again fears about the recovery of the global demand.

Brent crude futures for December delivery declined by $1.43, or 3.3%, to finish at $41.73 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December delivery closed lower by $1.67, or 4%, at $40.03 per barrel.

This is the lowest closing level for the global and US benchmark crude futures since October 12.

Crude oil inventories in the United States declined last week, according to data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

The EIA weekly report showed that oil stockpiles decreased by one million barrels in the week that ended on October 16 to a total of 488.1 million barrels.

Distillate stockpiles decreased by 3.8 million barrels to 160.7 million barrels.

Meanwhile, gasoline inventories increased by 1.9 million barrels last week.

It is worth noting that data showed that the production of crude oil in the US declined last week to 9.9 million barrels per day (b/d) from 10.5 million b/d in the week before.