(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, June 22 (KUNA) -- Oil prices settled lower on Wednesday after the release of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report confirming an increase of commercial crude oil inventories by more than 71 million barrels.
The EIA reported that the increase have pushed crude oil storage capacity utilization to a near record high of 73 percent for the week ending on June 10.
According to New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Crude Oil Futures opened USD 50.22, to hit as high as USD 50.54 in the morning before the release of the report, where it declined by USD 2.14. Later, the Crude oil futures settled at USD 49.13.
The US EIA measures crude oil storage capacity twice each year.
From September 2015 to March 2016, the US added 34 million barrels (6 percent) of working crude oil storage capacity, the largest expansion of commercial crude oil storage capacity since EIA began tracking such data in 2011, the report noted.
The expansion of crude oil storage capacity helped to accommodate the growth in US crude oil inventories, which surpassed 500 million barrels at the end of January 2016. Further, the EIA reported that US crude oil inventories increased in 24 of the 30 weeks from September to March, reaching 532 million barrels for the week ending June 10.
These commercial volumes exclude the 695 million barrels in the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Like the rest of the world, oil markets have been paying close attention to Thursday''s vote in Britain on whether the country will remain in the European Union. (end) mao.gb