Increasing oil supplies continue to plague the battered industry

In a report issued by the American Petroleum Institute US crude oil supplies rose by 14.3 million barrels from last week. Analysts were shocked as the consensus estimate was an increase of 3.1 million barrels. The US Energy Information Administration is expected to confirm the news during late morning on Thursday.

Carsten Fritsch, an oil analyst in Frankfurt Germany said, "The inventories were the trigger for the sharp correction lower. The focus is again back on the oversupply - the big question is for how long?"

The glut in production of oil paired with weakening demand for the commodity has continued to drive prices lower. Light, sweet crude oil has recently fallen to below $50 a barrel, while brent oil has fallen below $58 a barrel.

The news has caused oil indexes to drop in value including the popular ETF United States Oil Fund LPUSO. The ETF is currently trading at $18.62, down 3.3 percent.