World oil prices dropped by more than a dollar a barrel on Wednesday as large rises in US crude stocks offset bigger than expected falls in petrol stockpiles.
New York's main contract fell $1.33 to $54.70 dollars a barrel. The contract has shed almost $3 in two days.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude oil shrank $1.14 to $53.45 a barrel, after a fall of more than $1 on Tuesday.
Oil prices reached a record high of $57.60 a barrel last Thursday in New York on supply worries but began falling sharply on Tuesday after a further hike in US interest rates.
They continued to slide this afternoon after data showed US crude oil inventories rose sharply over the past week. The Department of Energy said crude oil supplies in the week to March 18 were up 4.1 million barrels to 309.3 million.
