Crude oil prices fell heavily on Wednessday after the release of the latest US inventories data showed a huge rise in crude stocks last week, well above market expectations.

ICE July Brent crude fell $2.00 to $69.84 a barrel while Nymex July West Texas Intermediate lost $1.75 to $67.35 a barrel after the Energy Information Administration said US crude stocks jumped by 6.9m barrels last week, compared to the consensus market forecast for an increase of just 0.1m barrels. Crude stocks now stand at their highest level since May 1998.