NEW YORK, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices declined on Wednesday even after data showing a significant drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.
The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery dipped 23 cents, or 0.31 percent, to settle at 72.97 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery lost 37 cents, or 0.47 percent, to close at 78.28 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The above market reactions followed a two-day winning streak on the oil market that sent both crude benchmarks to the highest levels in more than two weeks.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported Wednesday that the country's commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 7.5 million barrels during the week ending March 24.
The EIA report also showed a fall of 2.9 million barrels in total motor gasoline inventories and a climb of 0.3 million barrels in distillate fuel stocks.
"While the report was bullish, traders decided to take some profits off the table after the recent rebound," Vladimir Zernov, analyst with market information supplier FX Empire, said on Wednesday.
