Brent crude fell more than $1 on Wednesday, resuming its fall caused by a glut of oil in the market after a short-lived reprieve the previous day when a weaker dollar had provided some support.
Worries about oversupply have pushed Brent down 40 per cent since June.
On Wednesday, as the dollar inched higher, Brent’s front-month futures contract traded down $1.06 at an intra-day low of $65.78 a barrel at 0225 GMT, remaining above a five-year low of $65.29 touched on Tuesday.
On Monday alone, it fell $2.88, or 4.2 per cent, its third-largest one-day loss this year.
US crude futures fell $1 to $62.82 a barrel at one point before picking up slightly to $62.87, down 95 cents on the day. It also closed higher on Tuesday after a fall of $2.79, or 4.2 per cent, on Monday.
Crude inventories
US inventories rose 4.4 million barrels in the past week to 377.4 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations of a drop of 2.2 million, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may still hold an emergency meeting before its June gathering to discuss how to tackle the global surplus, Algeria’s energy minister had said on Tuesday.