On London's ICE Futures exchange, the price of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery slid $1.03 to end at 62.94 dollars per barrel in closing deals.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the heating oil dipped 3.95 cents to close at 1.7817 dollars a gallon as gasoline futures fell 3.69 cents to settle at 1.8291 dollars per gallon. Natural gas futures declined 2.4 cents to finish at 7.143 dollars per 1,000 cubic feet.
The Department of Energy said Wednesday that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.8 million barrels last week to 339.9 million barrels, or 10 percent above year ago levels, the highest level since April 1999.
Supplies of refined products fell. Gasoline inventories fell by 900,000 barrels to 223.9 million barrels, or less than one percent above year ago levels. Stocks of distillate fuel, which include diesel and heating oil, shrank by 3.9 million barrels to 127.5 million barrels, or 13 percent higher than a year ago.
Iran and Russia had reached agreement on Iran's nuclear case, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi declared in Tehran on Wednesday. Iran is OPEC's number-two producer behind Saudi Arabia, making 4 million bpd of oil and exporting 2.4 million bpd.
The International Energy Agency, a watchdog for the world's energy consumers, on Tuesday lowered its 2006 oil demand estimate by 290,000 barrels per day because of persistently high fuel prices and slowing consumption in Southeast Asia.
