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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices drop on profit-taking

Xinhua, February 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices dropped Thursday as traders took profit of the previous day's gains.

Oil prices jumped Wednesday amid the optimistic remarks from Ali al-Naimi, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister.

"Markets are calm now, demand is growing," al-Naimi said at a conference in the port city of Jizan, southwest Saudi Arabia.

However, the worries of global supply glut dragged oil prices down Thursday as traders believed the oversupply situation could not change overnight.

Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department' s statistical arm, released Wednesday its report covering U.S. crude supplies of the week ending Feb. 20. U.S. crude stockpiles increased 8.4 million barrels to 434.1 million, 71.7 million barrels more than a year earlier.

U.S. crude production reached 9.285 million barrels a day last week, the highest level since 1983.

Investors are also keeping a close eye on the rising supplies from Libya as oil fields in eastern Libya resumed operation after a pipeline was mended Monday.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 2.82 U.S. dollars to settle at 48.17 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange,while Brent crude for April delivery moved down 1.58 dollars to close at 60.05 dollars a barrel. Endite