|
Brent crude futures declined by 80 cents, or 0.9%, to $89.33 a
barrel at 1010 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures
eased 91 cents, or 1.1%, to $84.48 a barrel.
The benchmark oil contracts had settled nearly 2% higher on
Wednesday but fell back after the Wall Street Journal reported
that Israel has agreed to delay an expected invasion of Gaza for
now.
"The movements of oil markets are primarily involved with the
Hamas-Israel war," said Tina Teng, markets analyst at CMC.
U.S. crude inventories also rose in the latest week, indicating
weak demand.
Inventories climbed by 1.4 million barrels to 421.1 million
barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration,
exceeding a 240,000-barrel gain expected by analysts from a
Reuters poll.
Refinery crude runs in the U.S. fell by 207,000 barrels per day,
while refinery utilisation rates also edged lower by 0.5
percentage point to 85.6% of total capacity, EIA data showed.
Macroeconomic concerns continued to weigh on the outlook for oil
demand after a surprise downturn this month in euro zone
business activity data.
"Though with no clear signs the war will spiral, attention is
returning to volatile swings in the U.S. bond market and the
broader fragile state of the world economy, that is unsettling
investors," MUFG analyst Ehsan Khoman said.
The European Central Bank (ECB) will likely keep interest rates
unchanged at a record high when it meets later on Thursday,
snapping a 15-month streak of hikes, but may discuss a quicker
reduction of its oversized portfolio of government debt as it
battles still excessive inflation.
TotalEnergies on Thursday said fuel demand growth this year of
about 2 million barrel per day (bpd) was driven by emerging
countries, notably due to a recovery in the aviation sector and
demand from China's petrochemical industry.
(Additional reporting by Jeslyn Lerh in SingaporeEditing by
Sharon Singleton)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
