Crude Oil Prices Fall Following Strong Inventory Report

rude oil prices continued to fall Wednesday, dropping below $51 a barrel following a Department of Energy report showing strong inventories for both oil and gasoline.

Benchmark light sweet crude oil futures fell $1.64 to close at $50.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down more than $8 from an all-time high of $58.28 reached April 4, Bloomberg reported.

DOE reported that U.S. oil supplies rose 3.7 million barrels to 320.7 million barrels last week, far exceeding the 400,000 that was forecast, Bloomberg said.

Gasoline production has increased and demand growth has slowed, CNBC said.

The numbers followed a report Tuesday by the International Energy Agency that said global oil demand was slowing, after which crude prices fell by almost $2 a barrel, news reports said.