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Brent crude dropped $1.07, or 1.3%, to $83.51 a barrel by 1020
GMT, having hit a two-week low of $82.32 earlier and fallen by
2.1% in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.20, or
1.5%, at $81.46 having earlier touched a two-week low of $80.58
and dropped 2.4% on Wednesday.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani on Wednesday said
the country's talks with six world powers to try to revive a
2015 nuclear deal will resume by the end of November.
A deal could pave the way to lifting harsh sanctions imposed by
former U.S. President Donald Trump on Iran's oil exports in late
2018.
"Even if the talks resume and turn out to be successful, it is
still likely to be quite some time before any agreement is
reached and Iranian oil exports return to the market,"
Commerzbank said.
Crude stocks rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the U.S.
Energy Department said, more than double the 1.9 million barrel
gain forecast by analysts. [EIA/S]
The hefty stocks build was because of a large jump in net
imports of crude oil while refinery processing remained
sluggish, Citi Research analysts said in a note.
Yet gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels to their lowest in
nearly four years, even as U.S. consumers contend with rising
pump prices. [EIA/S]
At the WTI delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, crude storage is
the most depleted for three years, with prices for longer-dated
futures contracts indicating supplies will remain low for
months.
Outbreaks of coronavirus infections in China and record deaths
and the threat of lockdowns in Russia, along with rising cases
in western Europe, also weighed on prices.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Aaron
Sheldrick in Tokyo and Koustav Samanta in SingaporeEditing by
David Goodman)
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