Oil hits $45 as US crude stockpiles show largest jump on record

02-Nov (Reuters, via CNBC) — Oil prices tumbled 3 percent on Wednesday after a record weekly build in U.S. crude stocks added to worries of all-time highs in OPEC production that suggested little could be done to rein in a global glut.

The U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories rose by 14.4 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 28, versus analysts’ expectations for a build of 1 million barrels. It was the biggest ever rise in U.S. crude stocks in a week, overwriting a 2012 record.

“This is very, very, very bearish. Nothing else in the report matters,” said James L. Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas.

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PG View: If energy prices resume their downtrend, it’s going to derail any hope of hotter inflation into year-end…and possibly the rate hike as well. More production freeze/cut rumors in 3, 2, 1 . . .