Oil futures declined on Wednesday to post their first loss in four sessions. Prices fell sharply on the back of a weekly climb in U.S. crude inventories reported by the Energy Information Administration, and a sharp climb in the ICE U.S. Dollar index DXY, +1.00% also weighed on dollar-denominated 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, -3.43% fell $2.81, or 3.3%, to settle at $81.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.