Investing.com - Crude oil prices fell in Asia on Thursday as investors took profits on overnight gains in a market that remains oversupplied.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for June delivery eased 0.72% to $60.49 a barrel.
Overnight, crude futures surged to a five-month high on Wednesday amid bullish supply data before falling back as investors locked into earlier profits.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Brent settled at $67.73 a barrel, up 0.21 or 0.31% on Wednesday.
Crude stockpiles in the U.S. last week unexpectedly declined by 3.9 million barrels, significantly below expectations of a 1.5 million build.
It marked the first time this year that weekly U.S. crude inventories fell, easing concerns that stockpiles at the Cushing Oil Hub in Oklahoma could reach full storage capacity by the start of the summer.
U.S. crude inventories are now at 487.0 million barrels, below last week's record-high of 490.9 million – the highest level in at least 80 years.
By comparison, U.S. crude inventories stood at 397.6 million last year at this time, an increase of 93.3 on a year-over-year basis.
Analysts from Morgan Stanley (NYSE:NYSE:MS) in March predicted that U.S. stockpiles would rise by 115 million year-over-year at some point this month. The slowdown underscores a decrease in production in shale fields nationwide over the last month.
In its weekly inventory report on Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) also said that supply levels at Cushing, the largest storage facility in the nation, fell by 12,000 for the week ending May 1 -- marking its second straight weekly decline. A week earlier, the EIA said inventories at Cushing dropped by 500,000 -- its first weekly decline in 2015.
Eager to capitalize on wide profit margins, refineries nationwide have gobbled up crude at high levels in recent weeks ahead of the summer driving season.
Last week, however, gasoline supply levels increased by 0.4 million barrels as refiners cut back on demand. A week earlier, U.S. gasoline supplies rose by 1.7 million.
Energy traders await Friday's weekly rig count from oil services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:NYSE:BHI) for a further gauge on supply levels.
Last week, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. dropped by 24 to 679 as the figure moved lower for the 21st consecutive week. The national rig count is currently at its lowest level since November, 2010.