Oil prices fell by more than $3 this evening after US government data showed a big increase in crude reserves and a big drop in demand.
In volatile trade, the market had earlier fallen by more than $4 before moving briefly into positive territory after news of interest rate cuts.
Later, US crude was down $3.01 cents at $87.05 a barrel, while London Brent fell by $2.66 to $82.
Data from the Energy Information Administration showed US crude stocks had risen by 8.1 million barrels as inventories recovered from storm disruptions, much more than the 2.3 million-barrel rise forecast by analysts.
Petrol stocks increased by 7.2 million barrels compared with forecasts for a 1.1 million rise, while total demand for products over the past four weeks was down by 8.6% compared with a year before
