Investing.com - Oil prices traded lower on Thursday in Asia after data showed a higher-than-expected builds in crude inventories.
U.S. Crude Oil WTI Futures fell 0.3% to $58.23 by 11:54 PM ET (03:54 GMT). International Brent Oil Futures slipped 0.1% to $62.94.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. crude inventories fell by 4.9 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 29, compared with expectations for a drop of 1.73 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.
Gasoline inventories rose by 3.4 million barrels, versus forecasts for a rise of about 1.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles rose by about 3.1 million barrels, compared with expectations for a build of about 1.1 million.
Investors’ focus now switch to the start of the OPEC meetings due later in the day.
OPEC members will meet on Thursday, and then on Friday the OPEC+ group, which is the enlarged group of the cartel that includes Russia, meets.
OPEC+ agreed on the current 1.2 million bpd cut, which accounts for about 1.2% of world crude supply, in December 2018. The current agreement runs till March 2020, but it is widely expected that the production cut will be extended.
"The most likely outcome of the OPEC+ meetings this week is an agreement to reduce production by another 300,000-400,000 barrels per day (bpd), conditioned on greater compliance by countries that have failed to honor their commitment," Eurasia Group said in a note.
In other news, U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that negotiations with China are going "very well," just one day after he said an agreement to end the trade dispute may have to be delayed until after the American presidential election in November 2020.
“Discussions are going very well and we’ll see what happens,” Trump told reporters said at a meeting of NATO leaders near London. His comments came as Bloomberg reported that the two sides were closer to agreeing how many tariffs would be rolled back in a “phase one” trade deal.