08:40 AM EST, 02/12/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices weakened following three days of gains as a report showed an outsized rise in U.S. oil inventories last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for March delivery was last seen down US$0.81 to US$72.51 per barrel, while April Brent crude fell US$0.70 to US$76.30.

The drop comes as the American Petroleum Institute's weekly survey of oil inventories showed stocks rose by 9.04-million barrels last week, while analysts polled by Oilprice.com expected, on average, a rise of 2.8-million barrels. The Energy Information Administration will release official inventory data later on Wednesday morning.

The survey was the fourth-straight week to show a rise in U.S. inventories, a sign of light demand. In its Short-Term Energy Outlook released on Tuesday, the EIA said it expects production to begin to outstrip demand in the second quarter of this year, as Western Hemisphere production rises by an estimated 1.6-million barrels per day and demand growth remains low.

"Oil consumption growth in our forecast continues to be slower than the pre-pandemic trend. Our forecast of global liquid fuels consumption increases by 1.4 million b/d in 2025 and 1.0 million b/d in 2026, driven primarily by demand from non-OECD Asia," the agency noted.

In its Monthly Oil Market Report released on Wednesday, OPEC left its 2025 demand-growth forecast unchanged at 1.4-million b/d.