By Kim Khan
Investing.com - Oil prices fell Thursday, but were off their lows after as surprise rise in U.S. crude inventories.
WTI futures fell 2.6%.
Brent, the global benchmark, fell 2.3%.
Oil inventories fell by 405,000, the EIA said. Traders were looking for a decline of about 1 million barrels for oil inventories, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
Gasoline inventories rose by 1.75 million barrles, versus forecasts for a a rise of about 1 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles dropped by about 1.2 million barrels, versus expectations for a build of 3 million barrels.
“After the humongous build in fuels the past two weeks, you can say that this is a relatively positive report for the bulls,” Investing.com analyst Barani Krishan said. “Yet it doesn’t seem to have helped sentiment too much as the market’s worries are all on China demand now, pursuant to the coronavirus problem.”
“While we had a near 1-million barrel decline in Cushing stockpiles, U.S. crude exports fell about 70,000 bpd on the week and production remained at a stubborn high of 13 million bpd,“ he added.
“Unless we get some strong offtakes soon on the products side, it’s going to be hard to see much positives in this market.”