By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures hit 2-month lows on Wednesday on technical selling pressure and liquidation by investors fearing a supply glut despite impending government crude inventory data likely to show a drawdown.
The front-month August contract for U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures was down 80 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $43.85 a barrel by 9:18 a.m. EDT (1318 GMT).The session low for the contract, which will expire after Wednesday's settlement, was $43.69. That was the lowest for a WTI front-month since May 10. It was also below the 100-day moving average of $43.85 for WTI.
Brent crude futures fell 55 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $46.11.
"It's technical selling on top of fear that we're once again headed into the territory of too much oil," said a broker.
The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) will issue at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) crude stockpiles data for the week to July 15. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the EIA to announce a crude drawdown of 2.1 million barrels for last week.
Even so, the market's attention has been on an unexpected oversupply in fuels during the U.S. peak summer driving season.
As storage on land tightened in recent weeks, fuel prices weakened, prompting traders to store diesel on tankers at sea for later delivery. Even if crude output tapers, some say the glut may continue to pressure prices.
(Additional reporting by Karolin Schaps in LONDON; Editing by David Evans and Jeffrey Hodgson)
