Investing.com - Oil fell sharply on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to weekly information on U.S. crude stockpiles to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
U.S. crude was down 1.1% at $45.78 a barrel by 1010 GMT while Brent fell 0.3% to $48.57 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration was to release its weekly report on oil supplies at 10:30AM Eastern Time. The data was expected to show that crude stockpiles rose by 3.9 million barrels last week to 472.5 million.
After markets closed Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute said that crude inventories rose by 7.1 million barrels in the week ended October 16, above expectations for a gain of 3.5 million.
A meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC oil market experts in Vienna later in the day is also in focus. The cartel invited eight non-member countries, including Russia, for talks on the market, which may shed further light on the group's position of maintaining production at current levels as prices remain muted.
The oil market has been volatile in recent months amid uncertainty about how quickly the global glut of crude is set to shrink.