NEW YORK, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices settled lower for a third straight session Wednesday, even though official data showed a bigger-than-expected drawdown in U.S. crude stockpiles.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories decreased by 6.0 million barrels to 465.0 million barrels last week.
However, U.S. crude exports jumped to 1.98 million barrels per day and production rose for a fourth straight week, according to the EIA.
Analysts said that investors became cautious after a solid third-quarter gain. Oil prices witnessed sharp increases in the third quarter of 2017, with Brent crude jumping about 20 percent, marking the biggest quarterly increase since 2004, amid signs of rebalancing between supply and demand.
The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery decreased 44 cents to settle at 49.98 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery lost 20 cents to close at 55.80 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
