Investing.com - Oil prices struggled near a five-week low in European trading on Thursday, as concern over a global supply glut lingered after data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell less than expected last week.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude June contract lost 39 cents, or around 0.8%, to $47.43 a barrel by 3:30AM ET (07:30GMT). The U.S. benchmark touched its weakest level since March 27 at $47.30 on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for July delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 43 cents to $50.36 a barrel, not far from a five-week low of $50.14 logged on Tuesday.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 930,000 barrels in the week ended April 28, a much smaller draw than expected.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 191,000 barrels, as refiners produced more fuel than the market could consume.
Crude has been under pressure in recent weeks amid fears that an ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production is derailing efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 15th week in a row, reaching the highest level since August 2015. The relentless increase in U.S. output has overshadowed pledged output cuts by major producers.
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, but so far the move has had little impact on inventory levels.
A final decision on whether or not to extend the deal beyond June will be taken by the oil cartel on May 25.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for June declined 0.8 cents, or nearly 0.5%, to $1.514 a gallon, while June heating oil fell 1.0 cent to $1.462 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for June delivery inched down 1.2 cents to $3.216 per million British thermal units, as traders looked ahead to weekly storage data due later in the global day.