Investing.com - Crude prices turned lower on Wednesday after coming under renewed selling pressure in the wake of data showing U.S. oil production topped the 10 million barrels per day (bpd) mark last week.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil production rose 3.3% to an all-time high of 10.25 million bpd, close to the output of top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The report also showed that crude oil inventories rose by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 2. That compared with analysts' expectations for a gain of 3.1 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply-drop of 1.1 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, decreased by 711,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 420.3 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be in the middle of the average range for this time of year.
Meanwhile, gasoline inventories increased by 3.4 million barrels, compared to expectations for a gain of 0.4 million barrels. For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a gain of 3.9 million barrels.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 62 cents, or 1%, to $62.77 a barrel by 10:35AM ET (1535GMT). Prices were at around $63.69 prior to the release of the inventory data.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., dipped 27 cents, or roughly 0.4%, to $66.60 a barrel.
Oil settled lower for the third session in a row on Tuesday weighed down by the recent stock-market rout and as traders weighed a steady increase in U.S. output against OPEC's ongoing efforts to drain the market of excess supplies.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures slipped 1.2% to $1.799 a gallon, while heating oil was down 0.9% at $1.966 a gallon.
Natural gas futures sank 2.1%, to $2.697 per million British thermal units.