Oil falls after record production swells U.S. inventory

Oil falls after record production swells U.S. inventory

Oil prices fell on Thursday after official U.S. crude and gasoline stocks rose against expectations as production hit a record thus extending losses from previous sessions.

Brent crude futures were down 0.3% or 18 cents to $63.88 a barrel by 0517 GMT, dropping down 0.3% on Wednesday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% or 24 cents to $57.87 after falling 0.5% in the previous session.

The Energy Information Administration said that Crude stockpiles in the United States swelled by 1.6 million barrels last week as production touched a record high of 12.9 million barrels per day in contrast to a forecast of a drop of 418,000 barrels.

More bearish was a 5.1 million-barrel rise in gasoline stocks, compared with forecasts for a 1.2 million-barrel gain.

“Stubbornly high U.S. crude inventories have seen oil prices ease in Asia today,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA. But “dips … are likely to be limited for now, as the U.S. holiday mutes activity,” he added.