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Oil futures traded near unchanged Thursday, holding near three-month highs, a day after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories.
West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery CLF20, +0.08% rose 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $60.98 a barrel, a day after snapping a four-day winning streak by declining a penny. February Brent crude BRNG20, +0.02% was up 5 cents, or less than 0.1%, at $66.22 a barrel, as it aims for a six-day winning streak.
Oil on Wednesday bounced back from early losses after the Energy Information Administration on reported that U.S. crude supplies fell by 1.1 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 13.That was less than the 2.5 million-barrel average decline expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts, but came as a relief after the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday had reported a 4.7 million-barrel climb.
Meanwhile, oil remains bolstered by more optimistic expectations on the global economy and in the wake of the decision earlier this month by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, to deepen production cuts, said Stephen Innes, chief Asia market strategist at AxiTrader.
But Innes and other analysts remain concerned about data showing weak-handed speculative traders have built up substantial long positions in futures which could provide fodder for forced selling if prices turn south.
“So, in the absence of definitive macro catalysts over a typically quiet holiday period, this could leave sentiment vulnerable to news flow. As such, the oil rally is showing signs of petering out as traders heed caution by de-risking and banking some hard-earned profits,” he said.
In other energy trade, January gasoline RBF20, -0.04% fell 0.1% to $1.6829 a gallon, while January heating oil HOF20, +0.13% rose 0.1% to $2.0227 a gallon.
January natural-gas futures NGF20, -2.06% declined 2% to $2.24 per million British thermal units.
