Oil prices declined for a second day on Thursday after large builds in fuel inventories in the US the world’s biggest oil user, though expectations for increasing winter fuel demand and concerns over tighter supply limited the drop.
Brent crude futures fell 8 cents to $76.08 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 11 cents to $73.21. Both prices were down around 0.1 percent from the previous session.
Both benchmarks fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday as a stronger dollar and the bigger-than-expected rise in US fuel stockpiles weighed on prices.
Gasoline stocks rose by 6.3 million barrels last week to 237.7 million barrels, the US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.5 million-barrel build.
Distillate stockpiles rose by 6.1 million barrels in the week to 128.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 600,000-barrel rise.
But crude inventories fell by 959,000 barrels in the week, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 184,000-barrel draw.
“Increased US fuel inventories prompted some selling, but the downside is limited due to the winter demand season in the northern hemisphere,” said Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of NS Trading, a unit of Nissan Securities.
JPMorgan analysts expect oil demand for January to expand by 1.4 million barrels per day year-on-year to 101.4 million bpd, primarily driven by “increased use of heating fuels in the Northern Hemisphere”.
