Oil spikes after US production hits record 11 million barrels per day

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Oil spikes after US production hits record 11 million barrels per day

oil worker

Reuters/Jim Urquhart

Roughneck Brian Waldner is covered in mud and oil while wrestling pipe on a True Company oil drilling rig outside Watford, North Dakota.

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Oil prices rose Wednesday after data showed record US crude production and an unexpected build of supplies last week.

West Texas Intermediate was up 0.3% to $67.46 a barrel at 11:30 a.m. ET. Brent, the international benchmark, was up 0.9% to $72.24 a barrel.

US crude production hit 11 million barrels per day for the first time on record, the Energy Department said. Meanwhile, domestic crude supplies rose by 5.8 million barrels in the week ending July 13. Analysts had expected a drawdown of 2 million to 3 million barrels.

Markets were weighing that against supply concerns in Libya, where an attack on the country's largest oil field over the weekend forced it to suspend operations at a key port. The attack happened just days after a force majeure on several ports set the stage for the country resume pumping hundreds of thousands of barrels that had been shut out.

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Expectations for increased supply have been mounting elsewhere. Bloomberg reported last week that the Trump administration is "actively considering" a release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

The potential move would come after the administration ordered most countries to stop importing oil from Tehran, as part of Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. The move had helped send prices to multi-year highs in recent months, analysts say.

WTI is up more than 46% year-over-year.

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