Oil Futures Slide Further in Asia on Bearish API Inventory Estimate

Oil futures are down by another 1% in Asian trade on Wednesday, extending their overnight losses as the American Petroleum Institute's reading of weekly U.S. inventories showed a surprising build in both crude oil and gasoline.

--December light, sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was recently down 1% at $55.13 a barrel in the Globex training session. January Brent fell 1.1% to $61.49.

--The slide could extend further if the official Energy Information Administration data, due later Wednesday, confirm API's bearish inventory reading.

--Prices are still hovering near two-year highs on optimism about a possible extension of a production cut agreement led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. However, investors are worried that oil rigs in the U.S. will increase their capacity and embark on new drilling, which could add fresh supply to the market.

Write to Biman Mukherji at biman.mukherji@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2017 23:36 ET (04:36 GMT)