Oil futures traded slightly lower early Thursday, edging down from a seven-year high but underpinned by supply concerns.
West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery
CL.1,
-0.87%
CLG22,
-0.87%
fell 35 cents, or 0.4%, to $86.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The most actively traded March contract
CL00,
-0.59%
CLH22,
-0.59%
was down 17 cents, or 0.2%, at $85.63 a barrel.
March Brent crude
BRN00,
-0.68%
BRNH22,
-0.68%,
the global benchmark, fell 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $88.07 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. WTI and Brent on Wednesday both posted their highest finishes since October 2014. Through Wednesday, WTI was up 15.6% so far in the new year, while Brent had rallied 13.7%.
“It shouldn’t be too surprising to see the market taking a breather after the scale of the move we have seen so far this year,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, in a note.
Also, the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday afternoon reported that U.S. crude supplies rose by 1.4 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 14, according to sources. The industry trade group also reportedly showed a weekly rise in gasoline inventories of 3.5 million barrels, while distillate stocks were down 1.2 million barrels. Crude supplies at the Cushing, Okla., delivery hub fell 1.5 million barrels.
Official data from the Energy Information Administration is due Thursday morning.
On average, the EIA is expected to show crude inventories down by 700,000 barrels, according to a survey of analysts conducted by S&P Global Platts. The survey also calls for a weekly supply increase of 2.4 million barrels for gasoline and an inventory decline of 1.1 million barrels for distillates.
