Investing.com -
Oil prices fell on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi appeared to rule out a cut in crude production, just days before a meeting of major oil producers due to take place in Doha.
Brent crude dropped 41 cents to $44.28 a barrel at 11:20GMT.
U.S. crude dropped 56 cents to $41.61 a barrel.
According to a Reuters report al-Naimi said to “forget about this topic,” when asked about cuts to his country’s production.
The remark came a day after reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia had reached consensus on an oil output cap ahead of Sunday’s meeting.
Oil prices had already come under pressure after data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showing that U.S. crude stocks rose by 6.2 million barrels last week.
Analysts had expected a 1.9 million barrel increase.
The Energy Information Administration was due to publish official inventory data later on Wednesday.