Investing.com - Crude oil eased in Asia on Thursday with mixed regional data acting as a dampener to sentiment.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for February delivery eased 0.05% to $30.48 a barrel.
In Japan, the CGPI (corporate goods price index) is expected to show a fall of 3.5% year-on-year in December. As well, core machinery orders for November year-on-year likely fell 7.9%.
In Australia, comes jobs data including employment change with a drop of 12,500 jobs seen, and the unemployment rate expected up to 5.9% from 5.8%.
Overnight, U.S. crude futures inched down on Wednesday paring earlier gains as domestic crude inventories increased slightly last week, defying expectations for a sharp draw after the American Petroleum Institute reported a considerable decline hours earlier.
Though U.S. crude futures surged as much as 3% in anticipation of a significant inventory reduction, Texas light sweet crude immediately turned negative following the release. WTI crude remained near 12-year lows from Tuesday's session, when it slipped below $30 a barrel for the first time since December, 2003.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Brent crude for March delivery wavered between $29.99 and $31.83 a barrel, before settling at $30.20, down 0.75 or 2.38% on the day. At one point, brent futures fell below $30 a barrel for the first time since April, 2004. Much like its U.S. counterpart, North Sea brent has tumbled more than 15% in 2016, extending severe losses from last year.
On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its Weekly Petroleum Status Report that U.S. commercial crude inventories rose by 0.2 million barrels last week for the week ending on January 8. At 482.6 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years. Investors initially expected a build of 2.5 million barrels on the week, before the API reported a weekly decline of 3.9 million barrels on Tuesday evening.
Gasoline inventories also surged by 8.4 million barrels, significantly higher than analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.7 million. It came a week after motor gasoline inventories soared by more than 10 million barrels, enjoying its largest weekly build since 1993. Distillate fuel inventories, meanwhile, jumped by 6.1 million barrels, remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of the year, according to the EIA. The sharp builds among gasoline and distillate fuel inventories reinforced a trend among refineries of turning cheap crude into product, while storing it until demand increases.
U.S. crude production also increased slightly by 8,000 barrels per day to 9.227 million bpd last week, remaining above the 9.2 million threshold for the third consecutive week. The modest increased pushed crude prices down even further in the final hour of Wednesday's session.
Crude prices worldwide have slumped by more than 70% over the last 19 months, amid a glut of oversupply on global energy markets. Oil prices are also down significantly since OPEC rattled markets with a strategic decision to maintain its output quota in November, 2014, in an apparent effort to crowd out U.S. shale producers. On Tuesday, OPEC president Emmanuel Kachikwu, Nigeria's top energy official, told CNN that the world's largest oil cartel is considering an emergency meeting over the next several weeks to address the prolonged downturn. Shortly after, delegates from the United Arab Emirates refuted the possibility of such a meeting.
OPEC is expected to keep its production levels constant until it meets again in early-June.