WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories in the week ended March 22nd.
Concerns about the outlook for supply amid geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and the war between Russia and Ukraine limited the downside in oil prices.
Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories jumped by about 3.2 million barrels last week, after slumping by 2 million barrel a week earlier. Crude inventories were expected to drop by 1.3 million barrels last week.
The EIA data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 1.2 million barrels.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.27 or about 0.33% at $81.35 a barrel.
Brent crude futures fell $0.16 or about 0.19% to $86.09 a barrel.
The report from the American Petroleum Institute (API), which was released on Tuesday, showed crude oil inventories in the United States rose by 9.337 million barrels for the week ending March 22.
Gasoline inventories revealed a draw of 4.4 million barrels for the week, while distillate inventories increased by 500,000 barrels, and stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub showed a build of 2.4 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported that crude oil inventories in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) rose by another 0.7 million barrels to 363 million barrels as of March 22, marking the highest point since last April.
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