Oil prices were roughly flat on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected rise in US crude stockpiles reported Xinhua.
The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery gained 2 cents to settle at US$80.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery lost 1 cent to close at US$86.12 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that the country’s commercial crude oil inventories rose by 0.5 million barrels during the week ending Jan. 20. Analysts polled by S&P Global Commodity Insights had expected US crude supplies to show a fall of 2.4 million barrels.
According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories increased by 1.8 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories decreased by 0.5 million barrels.
