Shafaq News / Oil prices dropped on Wednesday as data demonstrated an increase in US crude stocks, which adds to concerns about the oversupply, while high incidence of Covid-19 cases in the United States and other regions casts doubt on the recovery in demand for fuel.

By 6:42 GMT, Brent crude future contracts fell 11 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 42.97$ a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude future contracts fell 11 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 40.51$ a barrel, to settle in the range it moved in the past few weeks.

Covid-19 cases exceeded three million cases in the United States until Tuesday, as more states announced registering record numbers of new cases.

The data of the American Petroleum Institute revealed that American crude stocks increased last week against expectations of a decline, although gasoline stocks and distillate products fell more than expected.

The US Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday that it is expected that US crude production will decrease by 600000 barrels per day during the current year, which is a decrease of less than 670 thousand barrels per day in previous forecasts. However, it expected that global demand for oil will recover by the end 2021.