Oil prices fell more than two percent Wednesday as the U.S. government reported a bigger-than-expected rise in crude supplies.
The price of oil fell $1.16 from Tuesday's close (or 2.2 percent) to $52.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A U.S. government report said U.S. crude supplies rose by 3.3 million barrels in the week that ended March 20 to a total of 356.6 million barrels. Analysts had expected a rise of just over one million barrels.
Oil prices had jumped to a 3-month high of $54 a barrel Monday on expectations that a U.S. government plan to help ailing banks will trigger an economic recovery and boost energy demand.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, and AP.
