Investing.com -- U.S. crude futures fell mildly on Thursday remaining near 10-week lows, as continuing fears of global oversupply outweighed the impact of a weaker dollar and a spike in gasoline futures.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for January delivery traded between $41.26 and $42.65 a barrel, before settling at 41.77, down 0.18 or 0.42% on the session. One session earlier, U.S. crude futures slipped under $40 a barrel for the first time since late-August, amid a slight increase in crude inventories over the previous week. At the end of the summer, WTI crude fell below $38 a barrel, tumbling to its lowest level since the height of the Financial Crisis. Over the last month of trading, U.S. crude futures have crashed by more than 8%.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for January delivery wavered between $43.71 and $44.76 a barrel, before closing at 44.24, up 0.10 or 0.23% on the day. North Brent Sea crude futures have also experienced sharp declines over the last month of trading. Meanwhile, the spread between the international and U.S. domestic benchmark of crude stood at $2.47, below Wednesday's level of $3.39 at the close of trading.
Energy traders continued to digest a modest build in U.S. crude stockpiles last week after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an increase of 0.3 million barrels on Wednesday for the week ending on Nov. 13. At 487.3 million barrels, U.S. commercial crude inventories still remain near levels not seen in at least the last 80 years. It came as U.S. crude output fell by 3,000 barrels to 9.182 million barrels per day last week, ending a streak of seven consecutive weekly increases.
Crude prices have remained under severe pressure from a glut of oversupply on global energy markets over the last year, as worldwide production continues to hover around all-time highs.
Elsewhere, gasoline futures surged more than 1% to an intraday high of $1.304 a gallon, limiting further losses in crude. Future prices for December delivery of gasoline shot up on Thursday after Irving Oil announced that its scheduled reopening of a 300,000 bpd refinery in New Brunswick will be delayed, according to Reuters. The $200 million project, dubbed Operation Falcon, is the largest turnaround effort in the Canadian company's history. As a result, the crack spread, the differential between the purchase price of crude and a refinery's selling price of gasoline, surged more than 20% to its highest level since mid-August.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell as much as 0.70% to an intraday low of 98.80, before moving back above 99 in U.S. afternoon trading. On Wednesday, the index reached a fresh seven-month at 99.97.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.