Oil prices went down on Wednesday as official data showed that U.S. crude stockpiles rose unexpectedly last week.
U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report on Wednesday that the country's commercial crude inventories rose by 3.8 million barrels in the week through July 27, higher than market estimates of a decrease of 2.8 million barrels.
The Reuters survey released earlier this week suggests that OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) increased production last month by 70,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 32.64 million bpd, a new high for the year.
Analysts said the latest news suggested that the market would be less tight than expected, which weighed on the oil prices lately.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery lost 1.10 U.S. dollars to settle at 67.66 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery erased 1.82 dollars to close at 72.39 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
