Oil prices tick up on sharp fall in US crude inventories

By Arathy Somasekhar

(Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Thursday for the third straight session after government data showed a steep draw in U.S. crude stockpiles, rebounding from multi-month lows touched this week.

Brent crude futures rose 23 cents, or 0.3%, at $78.56 a barrel by 0017 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $75.52.

Brent tumbled to its weakest since early January on Monday, and WTI dipped to its lowest since February, hurt by worry over a U.S. recession and a selloff in global stocks. [MKTS/GLOB]

U.S. crude inventories fell for a sixth week in a row last week, dropping by 3.7 million barrels to 429.3 million barrels last week, government data showed, against analyst expectations in a Reuters poll for a 700,000-barrel draw. [EIA/S]

Investors also continued to debate the state of supply as U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed production jumped by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a record 13.4 million bpd in the week ended Aug. 2.

However, the potential for Middle East supply disruptions worried markets after the killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah last week raised the possibility of retaliatory strikes by Iran against Israel.



While no supply has been impacted so far, attacks on ships in the Red Sea have forced tankers to take longer routes meaning more oil stays on the water for longer.

Meanwhile, Libya's National Oil Corporation has declared force majeure in its Sharara oilfield from Tuesday, a statement said, adding that the company had gradually reduced the field's production due to protests.

Source: Investing.com