Oil Prices Drop on Ample Supplies

New York (PNA/Xinhua) — Oil prices lost Thursday as near- record oil production in the United States weighed on the market.

Last week U.S. crude production gained 15,000 barrels to 9.604 million barrels a day, said Energy Information Administration on Wednesday in its weekly report. The high level domestic crude output dragged the market down.

U.S. crude supplies of last week decreased 4.9 million barrels to 463 million. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the U.S. contract lost 1.9 million barrels to 56.2 million barrels.

Supplies from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries added 50,000 barrels per day in May to 31.33 million barrels per day, the highest rate since August 2012, according to the International Energy Agency’s Oil Market Report.

Top oil exporting countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates, pumped at record monthly rates in May. Iraq planned to boost crude exports in June.

The U.S. benchmark, the West Texas Intermediate for August delivery moved down 57 cents to settle at 59.7 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The global benchmark, Brent crude for August delivery decreased 29 cents to close at 63. 2 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange. (PNA/Xinhua) LAM/EBP