Investing.com - Oil prices settled down on Wednesday, as optimism amongst investors that major oil producers will slash production, as promised, vanished.
What is more, key oil inventory data shows rising stockpiles around the globe.
Light, sweet Crude Oil for January delivery settled down $1.16, or 2.3%, at $49.77 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).
Brent Oil, the global benchmark, fell 93 cents, or 1.7% to $53 per barrel overseas.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will meet with other oil producers to coordinate further output cuts this coming weekend.
OPEC’s agreement just one week ago today to slash production temporarily propelled oil prices to a one-year high.
Experts worry that oil producing countries may adopt a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy and increase production to boost their own share of the market.
Another factor weighing on the minds of investors was the nomination by President-elect Donald Trump of a hardline candidate to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Oklahoma state Attorney General Scott Pruitt, the nominee, is a critic of global warming extremism, and the belief that mankind alone is responsible for variations in the global climate since the industrial revolution.
Pruitt has made a name for himself in conservative Republican circles by fighting President Obama's environmental policies, including the White House's controversial move to cut power plant emissions of carbon.
Trump has promised to "roll back" Obama's most restrictive regulations on oil, including his recent work stoppage of an oil pipeline in North Dakota that was about 1500 feet from completion.
A source tells Investing.com that so-called protestors at the pipleline this weekend were known by locals to be employees of a major rail carrier which will lose business if the oil is transported by pipeline, rather than rail.