Investing.com - Oil prices were lower in North American trading on Thursday, reversing overnight gains amid concern that an ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
Crude was higher earlier after leading Gulf oil producers Saudi Arabia and Kuwait gave the clearest signal yet that OPEC plans to extend into the second half of the year a deal with non-OPEC producers to curb oil supplies.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day between January and June. A final decision on whether or not to extend the deal beyond June will be taken by the oil cartel on May 25.
Brent oil for June delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London was down 8 cents to $52.85 a barrel by 9:35AM ET (13:35GMT), pulling back from a daily peak of $53.55.
The global benchmark sank $1.96 in the prior session after touching a low of $52.58, its deepest trough since March 31.
Elsewhere, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude June contract shed 10 cents at $50.75 a barrel. It rose by as much as 1% earlier to $51.38
The U.S. benchmark lost $2.00 on Wednesday after hitting its lowest since March 31 at $50.51, after weekly supply data showed U.S. gasoline supplies increased for the first time since February, while crude output keeps rising.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 1.0 million barrels in the week ended April 14, a smaller draw than expected.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 1.5 million barrels, disappointing expectations for a drop 1.9 million barrels, despite heavier refining activity.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for May was little changed at $1.662 a gallon, while May heating oil was at $1.580 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for May delivery dipped 0.6 cents to $3.179 per million British thermal units, as traders looked ahead to weekly storage data due later in the global day.