Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, magnifying their previous session’s losses, as worries about the outlook for energy demand. Crude oil prices fell despite data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories decreased by 5.1 million barrels to 460.9 million barrels in the week ended April 21. Meanwhile, the EIA data showed gasoline inventories dropped by 2.4 million barrels to 221.1 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles decreased by 600,000 barrels to 111.5 million barrels. Data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday revealed that U.S. crude inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels last week.
Benchmark crude oil futures for June delivery fell $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery dropped $3.08 or 3.81 percent to settle at $77.69 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.