Investing.com - Oil prices fell sharply during North American morning hours on Thursday, hitting three-week lows as concern over record high U.S. crude inventories offset optimism that OPEC and its allies have been following through on their commitment to cut production.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude April contract sank to a daily low of $52.66 a barrel, a level not seen since February 8. It was last at $52.81 by 9:20AM ET (14:20GMT), down $1.02, or around 1.9%.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for May delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dropped 96 cents to $55.39 a barrel after falling to $55.30, the lowest since February 8.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude supplies rose by 1.5 million barrels last week to yet another all-time high of 520.2 million.
It was the eighth straight weekly build in U.S. stockpiles, feeding concerns about a global glut.
Futures have been trading in a narrow $5 range around the mid-$50s over the past two months as sentiment in oil markets has been torn between rising stockpiles and increased shale production in the U.S. and hopes that oversupply may be curbed by output cuts announced by major global producers.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries made a strong start to lowering their oil output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of June, with compliance currently at around 94%.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for April slumped 3.2 cents, or around 1.9%, to $1.635 a gallon, while March heating oil declined 3.1 cents to $1.592 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for April delivery shed 2.4 cents, or almost 0.9%, to $2.776 per million British thermal units.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due later on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw of 4 billion cubic feet in the week ended February 24.