Crude Oil Futures Settle Lower on Wednesday

Oil prices dropped on Wednesday despite a leading government report that showed a weekly decline in domestic crude supplies, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

May West Texas Intermediate crude fell 29 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $53.11 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Wednesday’s settlement broke the streak for the sixth consecutive session increase which was set on Tuesday.

June Brent crude, the global benchmark, shed 37 cents, or 0.7%, to end trading at $55.86 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.

Early Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude supplies fell by 2.2 million barrels for the week ending April 7, marking only the second weekly decline to date this year.

Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported a 1.3 million-barrel decline while analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecasted a climb of 125,000 barrels.

Back on the New York Mercantile Exchange, May natural gas rose 3.7 cents, or 1.2%, to $3.187 per million British thermal units ahead of a weekly supply update due Thursday.