Crude prices retreated Wednesday on U.S. inventory data despite the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to keep output unchanged.
Earlier Wednesday, the OPEC oil ministers who met in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, said the cartel would leave output unchanged, because the world was "well supplied" and crude reserves are at comfortable levels.
But there are signs OPEC nations are already producing more than their production quotas, and some analysts expect OPEC output to increase even further.
The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in its weekly inventory report that crude supplies plunged by8 million barrels last week, much more than the expected 700,000 barrel decline. Refinery activity was unchanged last week at 89.4 percent of capacity.
Supplies of gasoline rose by 4 million barrels, much more than the 700,000-barrel increase analysts had expected. And inventories of distillates, which include heating oil and diesel fuel, rose by1.4 million barrels, countering analyst expectations for a 400,000-barrel decline.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell 83 cents to 87.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since Oct. 24.
Source:Xinhua
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