Crude prices drop on Libya supplies

Crude prices fell Wednesday as reports said two Libyan oil ports are reopened.

Libya's largest and third-largest ports, Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, are reopened Wednesday for crude ship, a spokesman of the rebels said Wednesday.

Market expected several hundred thousand barrels of Libyan crude to soon pour into the market, which would add pressure on crude prices.

Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department' s statistical arm, released Wednesday its report covering U.S. crude supplies of the week ending June 27.

U.S. crude stockpiles fell 3.2 million barrels to 384.9 million last week. Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, dropped 1.3 million barrels to 20.5 million.

On the economic front, U.S. private-sector employment increased by 281,000 from May to June on a seasonally adjusted basis, marking the strongest monthly gain since November 2012, said private payroll processor ADP Wednesday.

Investors remained cautious ahead of the closely-watched U.S. nonfarm payroll report from the Labor Department this coming Thursday.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery moved down 86 cents to settle at 104.48 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery lost 1.05 dollars to close at 111.24 dollars a barrel.