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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices retreat as inventories climb

Xinhua, January 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices retreated Thursday as U.S. crude inventories added more than expected last week.

Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. Energy Department's statistical arm, on Thursday released its report covering U.S. crude supplies of the week ending Jan. 16. U.S., showing the crude stockpiles of the country increased 10.1 million barrels to 397.9 million barrels, 46.6 million barrels more that a year earlier.

Meanwhile, inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, gained 2.9 million barrels to 36.8 million barrels.

U.S. crude production decreased slightly to 9.186 million last week, according to EIA data.

The U.S. dollar rallied against other major currencies and climbed to 11-year high against the euro Thursday as the European Central Bank unveiled a bigger-than-expected quantitative easing program to stimulate the waning economy in eurozone.

A stronger greenback made the dollar-priced crude more expensive and less attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

Light, sweet crude for March delivery lost 1.47 U.S. dollars to settle at 46.31 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange,while Brent crude for March delivery moved down 51 cents to close at 48.52 dollars a barrel. Endite