Investing.com - Crude oil prices fell in Asia on Thursday as ample global supplies outweighed a sharper thqat expected drop in U.S. crude stocks.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude oil for delivery in August traded at $101.87 a barrel, down 0.42%, after hitting an overnight session low of $102.11 a barrel and a high of $103.59 a barrel.
Brent oil prices fell 66 cents to $108.28 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.
The decline marked the ninth straight losing session for the U.S. benchmark contract and the eighth straight fall for the global Brent contract. U.S. prices hit their lowest level since May 16 and are down 4.6% from the June 20 peak, while the Brent contract hit its lowest level since May 9, down 5.9% from its June 19 peak
Fears that military conflicts in the Middle East will disrupt supplies continued to wane and softened oil prices on Wednesday.
Libya recently struck a deal with rebels occupying oil ports under terms that would have insurgents give up control over terminals that have been closed for a year.
The deal should add 500,000 barrels per day of crude back into the global energy market, while expectations for the Iraqi insurgency to remain to the north of the country's oilfields also allowed prices to fall, offsetting an otherwise bullish U.S. inventory report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories declined by 2.4 million barrels in the week ending July 4, surpassing expectations for a decline of 2.2 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 382.6 million barrels as of last week.
The report also showed that total motor gasoline inventories increased by 0.6 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a drop of 0.3 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by 0.2 million barrels, below expectations for an increase of 1.2 million barrels.