Oil Falls to One-Week Low Under $86

Oil fell to less than $86 a barrel, its lowest level in a week, on concerns over whether U.S. lawmakers will reach a budget-deficit deal, Bloomberg reported.

Crude futures fell to as low as $85.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest level since Nov. 16, Bloomberg said.

The Department of Energy, meanwhile, reported that oil supplies fell by 350,000 barrels last week. That was in contrast to analysts’ forecasts of a 350,000 gain, Bloomberg reported.

Crude output rose by 108,000 barrels a day to 6.8 million, the highest level since February 1994, DOE’s report showed, and production has risen for 12 straight weeks, the longest stretch of gains since at least 1990, Bloomberg reported, citing DOE.

Gasoline supplies jumped by almost 4 million barrels, while distillate inventories, which include diesel, fell by 800,000 barrels, DOE said in its weekly inventory report Wednesday.