Oil Futures Settle Lower Despite Drop In Crude Stockpile

Despite data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, crude oil prices fell on Thursday, due largely on profit taking after recent strong gains.

Worries about the outlook for energy demand following weak economic data from China, and a firm dollar weighed as well on crude oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.67 or about 0.9% at $86.87 a barrel.

Brent crude futures were down $0.52 or 0.59% at $90.08 a barrel a little while ago.

Earlier today, China reported another monthly decline in exports and imports in August, raising concerns whether the country will achieve its 2023 growth target of around 5 percent set earlier this year.

German industrial output posted a monthly fall of 0.8 percent in July, while EU GDP grew less than expected in the second quarter of 2023, reports out of Europe revealed.

Data released by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) this morning showed U.S. crude inventory dropped by 6.307 million barrels during the week ended September 1.

Gasoline stockpiles declined 2.666 million barrels last week, substantially larger than an expected drop of 0.950 million barrels.

Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles increased 0.679 million barrels last week, nearly three times the expected increase of 0.239 million barrels.

American Petroleum Institute (API) reported late Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell for a fourth straight week, dropping 5.5 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 1.

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