oil futures declined on wednesday to post their first loss in four sessions prices fell sharply on the back of a weekly climb in us crude inventories reported by the energy information administration and a sharp climb in the ice us dollar index dxy also weighed on dollardenominated prices for oil traders also continued to weigh the possibility that the biden administration will release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve as the government looks for ways to ease prices of the commodity december west texas intermediate oil clz21 fell 281 or 33 to settle at 8134 a barrel on the new york mercantile exchange