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Brent futures were down 59 cents, or 0.5%, at $108.19 a barrel,
while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were off 57 cents or
0.6%, at $103.68 a barrel at 0906 GMT.
Both contracts on Wednesday had shrugged off a build in U.S.
crude inventories to end the trading session roughly 4% higher.
"Asian buyers have been absent today, with volumes potentially
being curbed by the long weekend across most of Asia, Europe,
and North America," OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley wrote in a
note.
The International Energy Agency on Wednesday warned that from
May onwards roughly 3 million barrels per day of Russian oil
could be shut-in due to sanctions or voluntary embargoes.
At the same time, major global trading houses are also planning
to curtail crude and fuel purchases from Russia's
state-controlled oil companies in May, Reuters reported on
Wednesday.
The probability of a EU ban on Russian oil being agreed may be
almost zero, but no one will be able or wanting to say that
clearly, Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider
Vanda Insights said.
"And, even a continuing sabre-rattling will be enough to keep
the risk premium alive."
Despite signals that global supply disruption will persist, oil
stocks in the U.S. rose by more than 9 million barrels last
week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on
Wednesday, driven in part by releases from the nation's
strategic reserves. Analysts in a Reuters poll had anticipated
just an 863,000-barrel build.
U.S. gasoline stocks fell 3.6 million barrels last week, far
above anticipated levels, and distillate inventories also
declined.
(Reporting by Mohi Narayan in New Delhi, Liz Hampton in Denver;
editing by Richard Pullin and Jason Neely)
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