Oil prices settle lower as February WTI contracts expire
Oil prices finished with a loss on Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported an unexpected weekly rise in U.S. crude inventories. However, concerns over potential disruptions to global crude supplies, particularly as the market weighs the possibility of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, helped to limit price losses. February West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6 cents, or nearly 0.1%, to settle at $86.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract, which expired at the end of the session, finished Wednesday at the highest since October 2014. March WTI oil , which is now the front-month contract, settled at $85.55, down 25 cents, or 0.3%.
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