U.S. oil closes at nearly 7-week low as U.S. inventory data whack market

Oil prices settled sharply lower Wednesday as the bullish narrative that had buoyed crude futures for the past two sessions-supply disruptions and strong demand-appeared to reverse course. West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures for September delivery












CLU8, -3.41%










finished the session off $2.23, or 3.2%, at $66.94 a barrel. A weaker-than-expected drawdown in crude stockpiles and concerns that expected disruptions to Iranian output, caused by U.S. sanctions against Tehran, were overestimated, registered among the major factors that pummeled crude futures Wednesday. The U.S. benchmark contract finished with its sharpest daily drop since mid July, which took futures the lowest settlement for a most-active contract since late June, according to FactSet data. Oil futures had been trading slightly higher earlier on the day.

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