Oil prices are falling fast after data released by the Energy Information Administration showed an unexpected inventory build.
"U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 3.3 million barrels from the previous week," the weekly report said. Investors expected a reduction of 3.137 million barrels, according to data from Bloomberg.
Markets are responding by sending oil prices into a tailspin. The price of West Texas Intermediate is down more than 4% Wednesday, and Brent is down more than 3.5%.
This is only the last event in a string of news that has been sending oil lower.
Last week, OPEC countries announced they would be cutting production through 2018, but not as much as investors had hoped. Later in the week, Gulf States cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in part because of differing opinions on the future of the region and "gross violations" committed by Qatari officials. After seeing an initial bounce, energy prices turned lower.
In addition, President Trump announced he would be withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Accord, causing oil to fall by about 1.2%.
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