Oil prices plunged early on Thursday to the lowest in a month after U.S. government data showed on Wednesday that inventories hit their highest since September 2017 and production soared to another record level last week. As of 11:25 EDT on Thursday, WTI Crude was plunging 3.68 percent at $61.26 and Brent Crude was trading down 2.67 percent at $70.25. On Wednesday, oil prices dipped after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a substantial build in crude oil inventories, at 9.9 million barrels for the last week of April. At 470.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are at the five year average for this time of year, the EIA said, but this level of stockpiles is the highest since September 2017 . The inventory build also comes at a time when OPEC—led by significant losses in production by Venezuela and Iran, as well as conscious efforts to curb […]