Oil prices showed little change in early Asian trading on Thursday as investors weigh concerns regarding demand amid a global economic slowdown against an expected decline in supplies due to Saudi production cuts. By 0110 GMT, Brent crude futures fell by one cent to $76.94 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose by five cents to $72.58 a barrel.
Both benchmarks recorded nearly a one percent increase at the close on Wednesday, supported by Saudi Arabia's plans for substantial production cuts. However, price gains remained limited due to rising U.S. fuel inventories and weak Chinese export data.
Recent data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday showed a decline in crude oil inventories in the United States last week, while distillate stocks increased. The EIA reported that gasoline inventories rose by 2.7 million barrels during the week, exceeding analysts' expectations of an 880,000 barrel increase. Distillate inventories increased by about 5.1 million barrels during the week, surpassing analysts' forecasts of a 1.3 million barrel rise.
The larger-than-expected increase in U.S. fuel inventories has raised concerns about demand in the world's largest oil consumer, especially with travel expected to increase during the Memorial Day holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories fell by 451,000 barrels during the week, while analysts had predicted a rise of one million barrels.
