Crude oil prices dropped sharply on Thursday, as traders cheered the rising US petroleum inventories.
Light sweet crude oil futures for June delivery fell $1.91 to end at $48.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since February 18.
In London, the June Brent futures contract dropped $1.73 to settle at $48.34 a barrel at International Petroleum Exchange.
The downward pressure increased as traders further digested the US energy inventory data. The Department of Energy said yesterday that US crude stockpiles rose 2.7 million barrels to 329.7 million, the highest since July 1999.
US crude-oil supplies had increased in 12 of the last 13 weekly reports. Stockpiles of gasoline and distillate fuel, a category that included heating oil and diesel, also rose.
