: Oil futures end lower after EIA reports a hefty weekly rise in U.S. crude supplies

Oil futures ended lower on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported a 16.3 million-barrel weekly rise in U.S. crude inventories. The EIA data included an upward “adjustment” to crude stocks of 1.967 million barrels per day. That “suggests that the EIA underestimated not only domestic crude production but also likely underestimated net imports of crude and overestimated refinery runs,” said Troy Vincent, senior market analyst at DTN. U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery CLH23 fell 47 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $78.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as low as $77.25.

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