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.<\/p>\n
Worries about the outlook for energy demand following weak economic data from China, and a firm dollar weighed as well on crude oil prices.<\/p>\n
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.67 or about 0.9% at $86.87 a barrel.<\/p>\n
Brent crude futures were down $0.52 or 0.59% at $90.08 a barrel a little while ago.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Gasoline stockpiles declined 2.666 million barrels last week, substantially larger than an expected drop of 0.950 million barrels.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles increased 0.679 million barrels last week, nearly three times the expected increase of 0.239 million barrels.<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n