Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil futures came off the highest levels of the session on Wednesday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose for the eighth consecutive week last week.
Crude oil for delivery in December on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 11 cents, or 0.27%, to trade at $40.78 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. Prices were at around $41.20 prior to the release of the inventory data.
A day earlier, Nymex prices tumbled $1.07, or 2.56%, as mostly bearish outlooks for supply and demand remained on investors' minds.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 252,000 barrels in the week ended November 13.
Market analysts' expected a crude-stock rise of 1.9 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported an unexpected drop of 428,000 barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, increased by 1.5 million barrels last week, above forecasts for a build of 0.8 million barrels and following a gain of 2.3 million barrels in the preceding week.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 487.3 million barrels as of last week, remaining near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 1.0 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decline of 0.4 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 0.8 million barrels.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for January delivery tacked on 27 cents, or 0.63%, to trade at $43.84 a barrel.
On Tuesday, Brent dropped 99 cents, or 2.22%, as ongoing worries over the health of the global economy fueled concerns that a global supply glut may stick around for longer than anticipated.
Worries over a stronger U.S. dollar, prospects of higher interest rates in the U.S. next month and concerns over weakening demand from China also weighed.