West TX Oil Near $102 as Weak Gas Demand Stokes Fears

U.S. crude shed more than $1 and Brent fell on Wednesday, as a rise in U.S. gasoline inventories signaled weak demand, and a restart of a Libyan oilfield helped ease supply worries.

Gasoline stockpiles rose 579,000 barrels, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 217,000-barrel drop.

Libya has restarted the 340,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) El Sharara field after protesters ended a four-month strike, which could double the country’s current crude output. The government has also taken back control of the Ras Lanuf and Es Sider oil ports, ending an almost year-long occupation that reduced Libya’s output to less than a quarter of the 1.4 million bpd it was pumping before protests began last summer.

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