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1st LD Writethru: Oil prices dive on growing inventories

Xinhua, December 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Oil prices plunged Wednesday as U.S. crude stockpiles continued to increase.

U.S. crude supplies of last week gained 1.2 million barrels to 489.4 million barrels, 110.1 million barrels more than one year before, the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) said in its weekly report released on Wednesday.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. contract, added 0.43 million barrels to 59.03 million barrels.

U.S. crude production added 37,000 to 9.202 million barrels a day last week, according to the report.

Adding to the pressure, the U.S. dollar soared against other major currencies on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled an interest-rate hike by year-end.

Strong greenback makes the dollar-priced crude more expensive and less attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

The West Texas Intermediate for January delivery moved down 1.91 U.S. dollars to settle at 39.94 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for January delivery decreased 1.95 dollars to close at 42.49 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Endit