Crude oil inventories decreased last week by 3.4 million barrels as exports increased and refineries ran at a higher rate, said the EIA.

Rising methane emissions could hinder U.S. gas exports as some countries place limits on the powerful greenhouse gas.

Cleanup was underway Wednesday in a wooded, remote area of Ventura County after about 420 gallons of crude oil inundated a waterway, officials said, and crews were working to beat the upcoming storm.

South Sudan has resumed transporting and exporting crude oil after drone attacks on two key oil installations in neighboring Sudan forced an emergency shutdown, a senior official said Wednesday.

The price of Russia's Urals crude has plunged to its lowest in nearly three years, hitting $36 per barrel, as new U.S. sanctions target major Russian oil producers Rosneft and Lukoil, widening the discount to the Brent benchmark and weighing heavily on Russia's budget revenues.

Oil traded sharply lower in Wednesday dealings, with prices failing to find support even after the Energy Information Administration reported that weekly U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov.

The scale of divergence between the XLE and oil prices is unprecedented, and this has started to show up in the ETF's valuations. As sales have fallen 20% from their 2023 peak and profit margins have contracted by 6 percentage points, the Energy Sector Select Index's PE ratio has risen to 18x from single digits two years ago.

Canada's oil sands are experiencing a comeback due to the newly expanded Trans Mountain oil pipeline bringing Canadian oil to the Asian market. The pipeline has led to record-high production, with output set to grow to 6 million daily barrels by 2030, and has boosted local prices for heavy oil.

Oil prices fell on Wednesday as an industry report showing crude and fuel inventories rose last week in the U.S., the world's biggest crude consumer, reinforced mounting concerns that supply is exceeding demand in the market.