Crude Oil Falls 2% As Kuwait's Workers Call Off A Strike

Oil prices gained on Tuesday after a group of workers in Kuwait remained on strike for the third consecutive day. The strike resulted in the OPEC nation cutting its output to 1.5 million barrels per day, representing a little more than half of its average output of 2.8 million barrels per day in March.

However, oil prices lost 2 percent on Wednesday after the strike was called off.

Kuwait's Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers Confederation said in a statement the strike was "overwhelmingly successful" and showed their "ability to affect the production process."

The strike was canceled out of "appreciation" for the nation's Amir and "out of love and loyalty to His Highness."

The Wall Street Journal noted the end of the strike could increase supply by nearly two million barrels.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Tim Evans, an analyst from Citi Futures said the end of the strike in Kuwait "removes one of the key supports that allowed prices to recover easily after the disappointing outcome of the Doha talks."

"Each new fundamental data point continues to confirm that the global oil surplus is still alive and well and not going away anytime soon," Dominick Chirichella, an analyst at the Energy Management Institute, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying in a note.