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Brent crude was down 3 cents at $64.31 a barrel at 1046 GMT,
after rising to $65.52 earlier in the session, its highest since
Jan. 20, 2020.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures eased 4 cents
to $61.10 a barrel, after earlier rising to $62.26, the highest
since Jan. 8, 2020.
Texas' freeze entered a sixth day on Thursday, as the largest
energy-producing state in the United States grappled with
massive refining outages and oil and gas shut-ins that rippled
beyond its borders into neighbouring Mexico.
About 4 million barrels of daily refining capacity has been
shuttered and at least 1 million barrels per day of oil
production is also out.
"The temporary outage will help to accelerate U.S. oil
inventories down towards the five-year average quicker than
expected," SEB chief commodities analyst Bjarne Schieldrop said.
Prices also gained support from a larger-than-anticipated draw
in the U.S. crude oil inventories.
U.S. crude oil stocks fell by 5.8 million barrels in the week to
Feb. 12 to about 468 million barrels, compared with analysts'
expectations for a draw of 2.4 million barrels, American
Petroleum Institute data showed.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) oil inventory data
will be released later on Thursday, delayed by a day after a
holiday on Monday. [EIA/S]
Oil's rally in recent months has also been supported by a
tightening of global supplies, due largely to production cuts
from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) and allied producers in the OPEC+ grouping that includes
Russia.
OPEC+ sources told Reuters the group's producers are likely to
ease curbs on supply after April given the recovery in prices.
(Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in TOKYO; editing by
David Evans)
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