Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil pared gains in North American trade on Wednesday, after bearish data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. registered a larger-than-expected inventory build.
Crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 51 cents, or 1.02%, to trade at $50.41 a barrel by 10:33AM ET (14:33GMT), compared to $50.59 ahead of the report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories increased by 4.591 million barrels in the week ended September 15. Market analysts' had expected a crude-stock build of 3.493 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a supply build of 1.443 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, increased by 0.734 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 472.8 million barrels as of last week, according to press release, which the EIA considered to be “in the upper half of the average range for this time of year”.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories decreased by 2.125 million barrels, compared to expectations for a draw of 2.135 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 5.693 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a decrease of 1.633 million.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for November delivery gained 85 cents, or 0.54%, to $55.99 by 10:38AM ET (14:38GMT), compared to $56.12 before the release.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for October delivery fell 1.6 cents to $1.6485 a gallon, while October heating oil rose 1.9 cents to $1.7917 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for October delivery lost 0.5 cents to $3.127 per million British thermal units.
Crude prices had received a boost earlier Wednesday after Iraq's oil minister said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other crude producers were considering extending or even deepening a supply cut to curb a global glut.
Market players were looking ahead to a meeting Friday between OPEC and other producers regarding a possible extension by more than three months of oil production cuts that expire in March 2018.
OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until next March in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices, while some analysts suggesting that an extension will be needed to rebalance the global market.