WTI oil futures turn lower after U.S. supply data

Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil futures turned lower on Wednesday, despite data showing that oil supplies in the U.S. fell for the eighth consecutive week last week.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for August delivery shed 15 cents, or 0.25%, to trade at $60.86 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. Prices were at around $61.31 prior to the release of the inventory data.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended June 19.

Market analysts' expected a crude-stock fall of 2.1 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a decline of 3.2 million barrels.

Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, decreased by 1.9 million barrels last week, compared to estimates for a drop of 700,000 barrels.

Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 463.0 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 total motor gasoline inventories rose by 0.7 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased by 1.8 million barrels.

Energy traders have been paying close attention to gasoline stockpiles in recent weeks as the U.S. driving season entered its peak gasoline demand period.

Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for August delivery inched down 20 cents, or 0.32%, to trade at $64.25 a barrel.

The spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $3.39 a barrel, compared to $3.44 by close of trade on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, investors continued to monitor developments surrounding talks between Greece and its international creditors.

Market sentiment was hit after a Greek government official said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told associates that some of Greece's latest proposed reform measures had not been accepted by creditors.

Greece has to repay € 1.6 billion to the IMF on June 30 or face going into default, which could trigger the country’s exit from the euro area.