WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The price of crude oil showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Wednesday before eventually ending the day slightly lower.
Crude oil for January delivery edged down $0.05 or 0.1 percent to $68.72 a barrel after slipping $0.17 or 0.3 percent to $68.77 a barrel on Tuesday. The modest decreases seen over the past two sessions came following the nosedive seen during Monday's session.
The choppy trading on the came as traders weighed the news of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah against data showing a bigger than expected decrease by crude oil inventories.
The Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels last week after edging up by 0.5 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had expected crude oil inventories to decline by 1.3 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the EIA said gasoline inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels last week but remain about 3 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Distillate fuel inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, also crept up by 0.4 million barrels last week but remain about 5 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said.
Traders also looked ahead to an OPEC+ meeting over the meeting, with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies expected to further delay the oil output increase set for January.
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