Oil prices sank by roughly $3 a barrel on Wednesday after industry data showed that U.S. crude stockpiles rose more than expected and on concerns that a rebound in COVID-19 cases in top importer China would hurt fuel demand.
Brent crude futures settled at $92.65 a barrel, shedding $2.71, or 2.8%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $85.83 a barrel, dropping $3.08, 3.5%. The benchmarks fell around 3% on Tuesday.
U.S. crude in storage jumped by 3.9 million barrels last week to 440.8 million barrels as oil production increased to about 12.1 million barrels a day, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed. Analysts in a Reuters poll had expected a stockpile rise of 1.4 million barrels.
