Oil prices went down Wednesday as a government report showed that inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for U.S. crude futures, added.
Stockpiles at Cushing gained 2 million barrels to 30.8 million barrels in the week ending Dec. 26, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
The crude stockpiles of the country decreased 1.7 million barrels to 385.5 million barrels. U.S. crude production decreased 6,000 barrels a day to 9.121 million last week. Traders believed that U.S. inventories are still at a pretty high level.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to maintain its collective output quota at 30 million barrels a day at the Nov. 27 meeting in Vienna, Austria. There was no sign that producers would cut production in response to the slump.
Saudi Oil Minister said recently that the largest producer of OPEC would seek to maintain market share.
U.S. oil and Brent crude prices lost 46 percent and 48 percent, respectively in 2014. Global oil prices headed for the biggest annual decline since the 2008 financial crisis.
Analysts predict that the increase in production in North America is certain in the future. Investment bank Barclays said oil price has further downside risk.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery lost 0.85 U.S. dollar to settle at 53.27 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange,while Brent crude for February delivery decreased 0.57 dollar to close at 57.33 dollars a barrel.