Oil prices fell on Wednesday after hitting a near two-and-a-half year high in the previous session as analysts said the rally was gradually running out of steam despite supply outages in Libya and the North Sea.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended Wednesday’s session down 33 cents at $59.64 a barrel. WTI broke through $60 a barrel for the first time since June 2015 in the previous session.
Brent crude futures were down 54 cents at $66.48 a barrel by 1:52 p.m. ET (1752 GMT) after breaking through $67 for the first time since May 2015 the previous day.
“The market continues to gravitate towards bullish news but today we are seeing a little bit of profit-taking,” said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.
On Tuesday, Libya lost around 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil supplies from a blast on a pipeline feeding Es Sider port.
