Oil prices gave up earlier gains Wednesday to finish a bit lower, after U.S. government data showed domestic crude supplies declined for a second week in a row, but by much less than the market expected.
The Energy Information Administration reported early Wednesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by 1.2 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 7. Supplies had also declined the week before, marking the first weekly decline in 11 weeks.
However, analysts and traders, on average, expected to see a larger decline of 2.8 million barrels in crude supplies, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a drop of 10.2 million barrels.
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