2020.05.1310:45:00UTC+00Oil Prices Fall After API Report

Oil prices fell on Wednesday after data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that U.S. crude supplies rose by 7.6 million barrels for the week ended May 8, compared with analysts' expectations for a build of 4.1 million barrels.

Distillate inventories also climbed while gasoline stocks fell, the report showed. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Okla. storage hub fell by about 2.3 million barrels for the week.

Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be released later in the day.

Benchmark Brent crude dropped about 1 percent to $29.68 a barrel, after having risen 1.2 percent in the previous session. U.S. crude futures were down 0.9 percent at $25.55 a barrel, after climbing almost 7 percent on Tuesday.

Fears about a second wave of coronavirus infections gripped financial markets as more countries seek to ease lockdown restrictions and jump-start their economies.

U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Tuesday warned of "suffering and death" if the country reopens prematurely. Fauci also said that the U.S. is moving in the right direction but does not have "by any means total control of this outbreak."

On the supply side, Saudi Arabia's cabinet has urged OPEC+ countries to comply with their production cuts commitment and to reduce production in order to contribute to restoring the desired balance of the global oil markets.