By Laura Sanicola
(Reuters) – Oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Thursday after reaching fresh highs in the previous session as concerns about the Chinese economy offset the positive impact of steep drawdowns in U.S. fuel stockpiles and Saudi and Russian output cuts.
Brent crude fell 20 cents, or 0.2%, to $87.35 a barrel by 0006 GMT, after settling at its highest since Jan. 27 in the previous session.
West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $84.17, after settling at its highest since November 2022.
Chinese data on Tuesday showed crude oil imports in July fell 18.8% from the previous month to their lowest daily rate since January.
China’s consumer sector also fell into deflation and factory-gate prices extended declines in July, as the world’s second-largest economy struggled to revive demand.
However, prices were supported by government data on Wednesday that showed that U.S. gasoline stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 1.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for both to hold mostly steady. [EIA/S]
Also supporting prices were top exporter Saudi Arabia’s plans to extend its voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels per day for another month to include September. Russia also said it would cut oil exports by 300,000 bpd in September.
Investors were also awaiting July’s U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI), due on Thursday, which is expected to show a slight year-over-year acceleration.
(Reporting by Laura Sanicola in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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