2018.10.1115:42:00UTC+00Oil Settles Lower As Supplies Rise For 3rd Straight Week

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday, extending previous session's losses, after official data showed U.S. crude stockpiles to have risen for a third straight week. Concerns about likely fall in crude demand due to the impact of trade war on the global economy, also weighed on oil.

Crude oil futures for November delivery ended down $2.20, or 3%, at $70.97 a barrel. On Wednesday, crude oil futures ended down 2.4%.

Data released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration this morning showed crude supplies in U.S. to have climbed by 6 million barrels for the week ended October 5. That was much larger than what analysts had expected.

However, the rise was smaller than what the American Petroleum Institute had reported in the data released on Wednesday.

Gasoline stockpiles were up by 1 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles declined by 2.7 million barrels, the EIA report revealed.

According to a report released by the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday evening, U.S. crude inventories climbed by 9.7 million barrels to 410.7 million last week. Analysts had expected crude inventories to increase by 2.6 million barrels.

With the U.S.-China trade war tensions escalating by the day and the International Monetary Fund lowering global growth forecast, traders are betting global crude demand will see a drop in the near term.