Investing.com - U.S. oil prices edged lower during European morning hours on Thursday, as concerns over swelling stockpiles offset optimism that OPEC and its allies have been following through on their commitment to cut production.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude April contract shed 17 cents, or around 0.3%, to $53.66 a barrel by 4:00AM ET (09:00GMT), after losing 18 cents on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for May delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London dipped 7 cents to $56.29 a barrel after falling 15 cents a day earlier.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that crude supplies rose by 1.5 million barrels last week to yet another all-time high of 520.2 million.
It was the eighth straight weekly build in U.S. stockpiles, feeding concerns about a global glut.
Futures have been trading in a narrow $5 range around the mid-$50s over the past two months as sentiment in oil markets has been torn between rising stockpiles and increased shale production in the U.S. and hopes that oversupply may be curbed by output cuts announced by major global producers.
OPEC and non-OPEC countries made a strong start to lowering their oil output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day by the end of June, with compliance currently at around 94%.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for April shed 0.2 cents, or around 0.2%, to $1.663 a gallon, while March heating oil dipped 0.2 cents to $1.621 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for April delivery slumped 0.6 cents, or almost 0.2%, to $2.793 per million British thermal units.
Market participants looked ahead to weekly storage data due later on Thursday, which is expected to show a draw of 4 billion cubic feet in the week ended February 24.