Investing.com - Crude prices were on the back foot on Wednesday, staying lower after data showed that U.S. oil stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week, underlining concerns about a return of oversupply.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 39 cents, or roughly 0.6%, to $64.81 a barrel by 10:34AM ET (1434GMT). Prices were at around $64.44 prior to the release of the inventory data.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., declined 30 cents, or around 0.4%, to $69.12 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories increased by 1.6 million barrels in the week ended March 23.
That confounded expectations for a decline of around 0.2 million barrels, but it was less than the 5.3-million-barrel build reported by the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, rose by 1.8 million barrels last week, the EIA said.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 429.9 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be in the lower half of the average range for this time of year.
U.S. crude oil production rose to a fresh all-time high of 10.43 million barrels per day last week, keeping it above Saudi Arabia's output levels and within reach of Russia, the world's biggest crude producer.
Analysts and traders have recently warned that booming U.S. shale oil production could potentially derail OPEC's effort to end a supply glut.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories decreased by 3.5 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decline of nearly 2.0 million barrels. For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a drop of 2.1 million barrels.