Oil futures were on track to mark a second straight decline on Wednesday, after a selloff the previous session that analysts blamed in part on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on the U.S. interest rate outlook. A government report showing the first weekly U.S. crude inventory decline in 11 weeks failed to provide much support for prices
Price action
West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery
CL.1,
-1.52%
CL00,
-1.52%
CLJ23,
-1.52%
fell 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $77.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
May Brent crude
BRN00,
-1.13%
BRNK23,
-1.13%,
the global benchmark, was off 9 cents, or 0.1%, at $83.20 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Back on Nymex, April gasoline
RBJ23,
-1.10%
fell 0.6% to $2.685 a gallon, while April heating oil
HOJ23,
-2.16%
was down 0.4% at $2.785 a gallon.
April natural gas
NGJ23,
-4.80%
lost 06% to $2.685 per million British thermal units.
Inventory data The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels for the week ended March 3. The EIA had previously reported weekly crude supply increases for 10 weeks in a row. On average, analysts forecast an increase of 700,000 barrels, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal. The American Petroleum Institute l …