NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices decreased on Wednesday, as U.S. crude oil inventories surprisingly increased last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
For the week ending March 29, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories increased by 7.2 million barrels from the previous week. At 449.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are at the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said in its latest weekly report released on Wednesday.
The unexpected growth came alongside rising imports, as U.S. crude oil imports averaged 6.8 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, up by 223,000 bpd from the previous week, said the report.
The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery decreased 0.12 U.S. dollar to settle at 62.46 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for June delivery decreased 0.06 dollar to close at 69.31 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
