SlavkoSereda/iStock via Getty Images Crude oil futures pared losses but still settled lower after the Federal Reserve opted for a 50-basis point interest rate cut, the larger of the two options markets were considering and a move that some analysts see as likely to lift demand for crude but others view as signaling a weak U.S. economy. A larger than expected weekly draw in U.S. crude stocks also provided little help for oil prices, which continue to be weighed by persistent concerns about weakening global demand that have kept a lid on oil's recent bump up from multi-year lows. Commercial crude oil stockpiles in the U.S. fell by 1.6M barrels to 417.5M barrels in the week ended September 13 and were ~4% below the five-year average for the time of year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported. Investors may have linked the drawdown to Hurricane Francine, a short-lived event in which \"the numbers have a tendency to boomerang back in the opposite direction in the next week's report, after oil infrastructure comes back online,\" Mizuho's Robert Yawger said, according to Reuters. Oil futures had gained in the previous session, helped by worries over a renewed rise in Middle East tensions after thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon exploded in an attack that the group blamed on Israel; a second round of attacks targeting walkie-talkies caused explosions across Lebanon on Wednesday. But traders turned skeptical about the possibility of a supply shock in the region, and Tuesday's gains likely reflect the reduction of a large net short futures position, Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said, as reported by Dow Jones. Finally, the Department of Energy confirmed it is seeking bids for 6M barrels of crude oil for delivery next year to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Front-month Nymex crude (CL1:COM) for October delivery closed -0.4% to $70.91/bbl, and front-month November Brent crude (CO1:COM) ended -0.1% to $73.65/bbl. U.S. natural gas futures settled lower ahead of this week's inventory report, with the Nymex front-month October contract (NG1:COM) settling -1.7% at $2.284/MMBtu. ETFs: (NYSEARCA:USO), (BNO), (UCO), (SCO), (USL), (DBO), (DRIP), (GUSH), (USOI), (UNG), (BOIL), (KOLD), (UNL), (FCG) Indian officials said the country plans to continue to buy relatively cheap Russian oil despite Western sanctions, as Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri reiterated at Houston's GasTech conference that India will continue to procure oil and gas at the most competitive prices from any source. Russian crude accounted for 44% of India's overall imports in July, or just over 2M bbl/day, more than 4% higher than in June and 12% more than the year-earlier total; China's oil imports from Russia in July totaled 1.76M bbl/day.