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NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices ended lower on Wednesday amid rising doubts over whether a production-cut deal will be reached among OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) members.
OPEC agreed last month to cut oil production to 32.5 million barrels a day from current level of 33.24 million barrels a day to boost the market. The group will agree concrete levels of output by each country at its next formal meeting in November.
However, Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said on Sunday that the country, second largest producer in OPEC, wanted to be exempt from output curbs as it needed more money to fight Islamic State militants.
Iraq's refusal to join the output-cut deal continued to weigh on the oil prices on Wednesday.
Oil prices pared some losses in the afternoon session as government data showed the U.S. crude stockpile unexpectedly declined last week.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories lost 600,000 barrels last week, in contrary to market consensus of a 1.7 million-barrel gain.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery lost 0.78 U.S. dollars to settle at 49.18 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery decreased 0.81 dollar to close at 49.98 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
