Investing.com - U.S. crude prices posted mild gains in Asia on Thursday as an industry report on U.S. inventories showed a sharp drop in crude supplies, but a spike in gasoline stocks following a production report by OPEC that said efforts to curb surpluses by the cartel were working.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in February edged up 0.06% to $51.44 a barrel, while March Brent crude on London's ICE Futures Exchange was last quoted at $54.24 a barrel, down 0.04%.
The American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday crude oil inventories dropped 5.0 million barrels in the U.S. at the end of last week, compared to an expected 300,000 barrels build, while gasoline supplies surged 9.75 million barrels. Distillate stocks rose 1.75 million barrels
The estimates come ahead of official data from the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday, delayed by a day because of a public holiday.
Earlier on Wednesday, OPEC said a surplus of global crude supplies is on the way down and will be aided by demand and a coordinated effort by OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from the market in the first half of 2017, adding that other sources, including U.S. shale drillers, could pump enough to make a decline less pronounced.
OPEC said the group pumped 33.085 million bpd last month, according to figures OPEC collects from secondary sources, down 221,000 bpd from November.
"A continued normalisation of monetary policies, indicating improving economic conditions, together with the recent historic cooperation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, should help to bring needed stability to the oil market," OPEC said.
In other OPEC news this week, shipping industry sources said exports from Iraq's southern Basra port has eased in January, signaling that OPEC's second-largest producer is following through on the group's decision to cut output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd). OPEC members and several other large suppliers aim to reduce output by nearly 1.8 million bpd in the first half of 2017.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will meet its commitment to cut output under the global pact with Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said that since the deal came into effect at the New Year all is well.