Crude-oil prices finished 2014 down 46% lower as a selloff in oil markets continued Wednesday even as U.S. data showed a greater-than-expected decline in inventory. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February fell 85 cents, or 1.6%, to settle at $53.27 a barrel. This time last year, the most-active crude contract settled at $98.42 a barrel, according to Fact Set data. Wednesday’s decline came even as U.S. commercial crude-oil inventories declined by 1.8 million barrels to 385.5 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 26, according to the Energy Information Administration. Analysts polled by Platts expected a decline of 1.25 million barrels for the week. The greater-than-expected decline, which suggests a tightening of supplies, caused the February contract to spike to about $53.50 a barrel, but prices soon fell back below $53 a barrel. February Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange dropped $1.03, or 1.8%, to $56.87 a barrel.

In a lesser-watched metric, the American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday that U.S. crude-oil inventories rose by about 800,000 barrels to 387.3 million barrels. Earlier Wednesday, China’s factory data showed more sluggishness, with the final reading of the HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index at 49.6 in December, down from 50 in November. China is the world’s second-largest consumer of oil, and its manufacturing sector accounts for a big chunk of its fuel consumption.

The U.S. Commerce Department Tuesday confirmed that it has granted more permissions to energy companies with ultralight oil export applications pending before the agency. The shale boom in the U.S. has resulted in surging oil production in the world’s largest economy, giving stiff competition to other global oil producers, especially the Middle East. However, U.S. oil exports have been banned so far and the industry has been lobbying to free up export regulations.

Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for January the benchmark gasoline contract—fell nearly 2 cents, or 1.3%, to $1.435 a gallon. That’s 48% lower than the most actively traded contract this time last year, which settled at $2.786 a gallon.