Oil extended losses to trade near a 12-year low as crude stockpiles at the delivery point for New York futures expanded to a record even as nationwide inventories slipped.

West Texas Intermediate oil fell as much as 4.5 percent after dropping 15 percent the previous five sessions. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the biggest U.S. oil-storage hub, rose by 523,000 barrels to 64.7 million last week, according to government data. The site is considered full at 73 million barrels. The price differencebetween front-month WTI delivery and a month later was near the widest in five years.

"This is a hangover from yesterday’s Cushing data," said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA in New York. "Global equities, currencies and bonds are being taken as negative demand indicators. We’re set to soon break the lows made last month and then $25 will be the big target."

Oil is down about 27 percent this year on speculation a global glut will persist as Iranian exports increase after the removal of sanctions and U.S. crude inventories remain swollen. U.S. stockpiles are more than 130 million barrels above the five-year average, even after dropping by 754,000 barrels, according to Energy Information Administration data.

WTI for March delivery tumbled to $26.13 a barrel, breaking below the $26.19 mark from January to the lowest since May 2003. Total volume traded was 88 percent higher than the 100-day average.

Brent Premium

Brent for April settlement declined 51 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $30.33 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a $1.21 premium to the April WTI contract.

"The Brent-WTI spread is widening again, which has me wondering if we are getting close to seeing a rise in exports," said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in St. Louis, which oversees $3.6 billion in assets. "It would be good for WTI, not so for Brent."

The U.S. lifted a 40-year ban on crude exports on Dec. 18 after surging U.S. shale production bolstered inventories.

Traders are looking again at using supertankers as temporary storage facilities to profit from contango, when prices of oil for delivery today are lower than those in future months. The difference between WTI futures for March delivery and for April grew to $2.33, the most since February 2015. Earlier the spread was the widest since February 2011.

Risk-Off Environment

“It’s still a risk-off environment,” said Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG in Zurich. “WTI is suffering from record-high stocks at Cushing. It’s falling more than Brent to prevent stockpiles there rising even more, because a wider spread should result in increased demand for local crude in the Cushing area at the expense of imports.”

U.S. crude imports fell 14 percent to 7.12 million barrels a day last week, the biggest decrease since December 2014, according to the EIA report Wednesday. Crude output declined by 28,000 barrels a day to 9.19 million a day, dropping for a third week.

"A lot of the weakness in last week’s number was due to imports, which jump around a lot," O’Grady said. "The trend is unmistakable, and inventories will resume their rise."

Venezuela has lobbied Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other exporters to arrange a meeting between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers in an attempt to reach an agreement to balance an oversupplied market. Rosneft OJSC will supply its traditional markets with oil in a “competitive battle,” Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin said in London on Wednesday.