Investing.com - Oil prices settled slightly lower Thursday after U.S. oil inventories rose more than expected. That was coupled with a decline in equities, which hurt bullishness.
WTI futures slipped 0.6% to end down 35 cents at $56.77 per barrel.
Brent oil futures, the global benchmark, lost 0.1%, settling down 9 cents at $62.28.
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories rose by 2.2 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 8, compared with expectations for a build of 1.65 million barrels, according to analysts’ forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
Gasoline inventories rose by nearly 1.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a drop of 1.17 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles fell by about 2.5 million barrels, compared with forecasts for a decline of 950,000 barrels.
“Once again, the crude builds are coming in at the expected levels for the late shoulder season of demand, going into winter,” Investing.com analyst Barani Krishnan said. “Both the 2.2 million bpd crude build and 1.9 million gasoline build trumped expectations, especially gasoline, which went reverse to expectations.”
The “price action shows the bulls aren’t ready to yield yet and that’s probably because they are expecting the U.S.-China trade deal to come to their rescue, or still hoping that OPEC will pull some magic rabbit out of the hat at its December meeting,” Krishnan added.
Once again, U.S. oil production for the week came in at a record of 12.8 million barrels per day.
“We already have OPEC trying to talk down shale production, signaling it will not do deeper cuts for the coming year,” Krishnan said.
Combined with U.S. production that shows “more fundamental downside than up in the near term,” he added.
The inventory numbers were released a day later due to Monday’s federal holiday for Veterans Day.