* Kuwait ends oil strike, reviving glut worry after failed
Doha
* Six supertankers lined up at Kuwaiti terminal to load
crude
* API data shows U.S. crude build of 3.1 mln bbls last week
* Analysts had expected U.S. crude stock rise of 2.4 mln
bbls
* Impending expiry of WTI front-month adds to bearish mood
(New throughout, updating market activity and comments to U.S.
session; changes byline and dateline, previous LONDON)
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, April 20 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday
as oversupply worries returned after Kuwaiti oil workers ended a
three-day strike and U.S. industry data indicated a
larger-than-expected build in crude inventories last week.
Six supertankers have lined up at Kuwait's crude export
terminal to load oil, and the country has raised its output to
1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) from 1.1 million on Sunday.
The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration
will issue official inventory numbers at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430
GMT) EIA/S], following a much stronger-than-expected storage
rise reported on Tuesday by American Petroleum Institute. API/S
The impending expiry of the front-month May CK6 contract
in U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures also
weighed, as it traded at a discount of around $1.50 to the June
contract CM6 that would become the market's benchmark from
Thursday.
"An expiration of more than $1.50 a barrel in the May-June
spread today would send off some additional bearish WTI
signals," said Jim Ritterbusch of Chicago-based energy markets
consultancy Ritterbusch & Associates.
May WTI CLc1 was down 71 cents at $40.37 a barrel by 9:39
a.m. EDT (1339 GMT). The June contract CLc2 was off 70 cents
at $41.77.
Brent's front-month contract traded 70 cents lower at $43.33
a barrel.
The end of Kuwait's oil industry strike revived the bearish
mood brought on by the failure at the weekend by major crude
producers to agree to freeze output at a meeting in Doha, Qatar.
The production freeze was designed to ease an oil glut that had
brought prices down from a mid-2014 high above $100 a barrel.
"Kuwait is moving back to full production, and we expected
that oil would come off more after the Doha deal fell apart, so
we're seeing the impact of that now," said Bjarne Schieldrop,
chief commodity analyst at SEB in Oslo.
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday
Russia's oil production could exceed 540 million tonnes this
year (10.8 million barrels per day) and cautioned that Saudi
Arabia also had potential to hike its output.
CHART: Brent oil may drop to $42.34 http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/US/2/PVB_20162004091036.png
CHART: U.S. oil neutral in $40.03-$41.27 range http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/US/2/PVB_20162004090028.png
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