Crude clung to the lowest in two weeks amid a surprise increase in U.S. crude inventories and a trade dispute between the U.S. and China.
Futures in New York dropped as much as 1.9 percent on Wednesday. Nationwide crude inventories rose 3.8 million barrels last week, while refinery utilization ticked higher for the first time since late June, data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a 3-million-barrel decline in supplies.
Meanwhile, the U.S. will propose more than doubling its planned tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports, according to three people familiar with the internal deliberations.
West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery dropped 92 cents to $67.84 a barrel at 10:34 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Total volume traded was about 41 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for October settlement dipped $1.27 to $72.94 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark traded at a $6.21 premium to October WTI.
