Investing.com - Crude oil prices slipped lower on Wednesday, as news of a rise in U.S. stockpiles dented optimism surrounding global efforts to limit output.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude April contract was down 28 cents or about 0.44% at $62.73 a barrel by 03:40 a.m. ET (07:40 GMT).
Elsewhere, Brent oil for April delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London fell 22 cents or about 0.33% at $66.31 a barrel.
Oil prices weakened after the American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that crude inventories rose by 933,000 barrels in the week ending Feb.23, albeit less than the expected increase of 2.7 million barrels.
Market participants were now looking ahead to official data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, due later Wednesday.
Fears that rising U.S. output could dampen global efforts to rid the market of excess supplies have systematically limited oil prices' gains recently.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), along with some non-OPEC members led by Russia, agreed in December to extend oil output cuts until the end of 2018.
The deal to cut oil output by 1.8 million barrels a day (bpd) was adopted last winter by OPEC, Russia and nine other global producers. The agreement was due to end in March 2018, having already been extended once.
Elsewhere, gasoline futures were down 0.10% at $1.977 a gallon, while natural gas futures dropped 0.48% to $2.670 per million British thermal units.