While West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures settled higher, Brent crude futures slid on Wednesday after U.S. government data revealed an unexpected decline in inventories, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
November West Texas Intermediate crude rose 26 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $52.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
November Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 54 cents, or 0.9%, to end trading at $57.90 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported domestic crude supplies fell by 1.8 million barrels for the week ending September 22, after posting substantial increases for the last three weeks. Meanwhile, analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts forecasted an increase of 1.3 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute revealed a drop of 761,000 barrels, according to sources.
Back on the New York Mercantile Exchange, October natural gas settled at $2.974 per million British thermal units, up 5.6 cents, or 1.9%, on the contract’s expiration day. The new front month November contract added 6.1 cents, or 2%, to end trading at $3.061 per million British thermal units.