Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell to the lowest levels of the session on Wednesday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose to the highest level on record last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for May delivery dropped $1.53, or 2.83%, to trade at $52.45 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. Prices were at around $52.75 prior to the release of the inventory data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 10.9 million barrels in the week ended April 3, compared to expectations for an increase of 3.5 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 482.4 million barrels as of last week, the most in at least 80 years, underling concerns over a supply glut.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories increased by 817,000 barrels, compared to expectations for a drop of 1.1 million, while distillate stockpiles fell by 250,000 barrels.
A day earlier, New York-traded oil futures rallied to $54.13, the most since February 18, before ending at $53.98, up $1.84, or 3.53%.
Nymex oil futures spiked almost 10% in the two sessions leading to Wednesday amid speculation an ongoing collapse in rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. will result in lower production.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery slumped $1.00, or 1.7%, to trade at $58.10 a barrel. On Tuesday, Brent rose 98 cents, or 1.69%, to settle at $59.10.
London-traded Brent prices moved lower after Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi said that the kingdom produced a record 10.3 million barrels per day in March.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $5.65 a barrel, compared to $5.12 by close of trade on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.35% to trade at 97.88 early on Wednesday.
Investors will be focusing on Wednesday’s minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting for further indications on the central bank's next policy moves after Friday's downbeat jobs data fuelled uncertainty over the timing of a rate hike.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the U.S. economy added 126,000 new jobs in March, less than half of February’s gain and the smallest increase since December 2013.