Crude oil prices edged lower on Wednesday due to a larger than expected crude inventory build. As of 1305 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $0.57 (-0.54 percent) to reach 104.42 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, slipped to $100.99 a barrel, down by $0.71 (-0.70 percent). The price for Opec basket was recorded at $102.94 a barrel with an increase of one percent. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey. Arab Light was available at $111.68 a barrel with an increase of 2.55 percent and the price of Russian Sokol jumped to $97.27 a barrel with a 2.87 percent increase. The American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a surprise build this week for crude oil of 4.784 million barrels, compared to analysts’ predictions of a much smaller 600,000 barrels build. The US crude inventories have shed some 71 million barrels since the start of 2021 and about 14 million barrels since the start of 2020.