Investing.com - Crude oil price fell in Asia on Thursday as weekly data confirmed a surprise build in U.S. inventories and investors mulled demand prospects globally.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for December delivery eased 0.10% to $52.13 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent dipped 0.02% to $58.41 a barrel.
China, the world's second largest crude importer, unveiled its leadership team on Wednesday and signaled it aims to improve quality of life and trim back rapid export-oriented industrialization in favor of domestic consumption. The switch, expected to accelerate in the next five years in China has potential negative implications for crude oil demand.
Overnight, crude oil prices settled lower on Wednesday as rising crude supplies and a surge in U.S. production offset data showing gasoline supplies fell more-than-expected.
Crude oil prices fell for the first time in three days as concerns over a surge in US production weighed on upside momentum while a mixed report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing crude stockpiles rose for the first time in five weeks and gasoline supplies fell more-than-expected failed to lift sentiment.
Inventories of U.S. crude rose by roughly 856,000 barrels in the week ended Oct. 20, missing expectations of a draw of 2.6m barrels.
Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – fell by 5.5m barrels, confounding expectations of a draw of just 17,000 barrels while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil – fell by about 5.3m barrels, topping expectations of a decline of 860,000 barrels.
The larger-than-expected draw in oil products such as gasoline and heating oil follows a recovery in refinery activity after refiners scaled back operations to undergo seasonal maintenance last week.
U.S. crude production, meanwhile, surged to 9.5m barrels per day (bpd) as daily exports of crude, diesel and other petroleum products climbed to 7.66m barrels last week, the EIA said Wednesday.