Investing.com - Crude oil prices were narrowly mixed in Asia on Thursday with the market cautious as supplies grow from production and temporary lower demand as spring refinery maintenance gathers pace.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for March delivery rose 0.25% to $64.94 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent eased 0.01% to $68.88 a barrel.
Overnight, crude oil prices settled higher shrugging off data showing US domestic oil supplies rose for the first time in 11 weeks and production rose above 10 million barrels per day in nearly half a century.
Inventories of US crude fell by rose 6.776 million barrels for the week ended Jan. 26, well above expectations for of a draw of 308,000 barrels. That was the biggest increase in US stockpiles in ten months.
Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – fell by 1.980 million barrels, confounding expectations for a build of 1.877 million barrels, while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil – unexpectedly fell by 1.940 million barrels, a steeper fall than the 1.454 million barrels expected.
The sharp build in US oil supplies come as the spread between WTI crude and Brent continues to tighten, lessening demand for domestic crude exports, leading to a build in crude stockpiles.
U.S. crude production rose to 10.04 million barrels a day set in November 1970, according to data released by EIA on Wednesday. That level brings the US closer to world's top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.