NEW YORK, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices slumped on Wednesday as Libya's National Oil Corp (NOC) lifted a force majeure on four Libyan oil ports.
NOC said production and exports from the terminals would "return to normal levels in the next few hours" after lifting force majeure on eastern oil ports on Wednesday, according to media reports.
Libyan oil production fell to 527,000 barrels per day (bpd) from a high of 1.28 million bpd in February following the port closures, the NOC said on Monday.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 12.6 million barrels last week to 405.2 million barrels, marking the biggest weekly drop in domestic crude supplies in nearly two years, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report on Wednesday.
The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery sank 3.73 U.S. dollars to settle at 70.38 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery lost 5.46 dollars to 73.40 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
