Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Wednesday, extending the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions, on a surprise build in US crude stockpiles and as the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant outweighed the impact of Mideast geopolitical tensions. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles rose 3.6 million barrels during the week ended July 30, while street had expected inventories to decrease by 3.1 million barrels. The EIA said distillate fuel inventories also edged up by 0.8 million barrels, although gasoline inventories tumbled by 5.3 million barrels.
Crude oil futures for September fell $2.41 or 3.4 percent to settle $68.15 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. October Brent crude dropped $2.03 or 2.8 percent to settle at $70.38 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.