US oil prices drop more than $1 as inventory build raises oversupply fear

By Yuka Obayashi

TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. crude futures declined more than $1 in early trade on Thursday after an unexpected build in U.S. crude oil inventories last week raised investor concerns about oversupply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid $1.21, or 1.9%, to $61.94 by 2309 GMT. The benchmark slipped 0.8% on Wednesday.

Data from the Energy Information Administration showed

crude stockpiles rose by 3.5 million barrels to 441.8 million barrels in the week ended May 9, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel draw.

[EIA/S]

API industry data also showed a large build of 4.3 million barrels in crude stocks last week, market sources said on Tuesday. [API/S]

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers, known as OPEC+, has been increasing supply, although OPEC on Wednesday trimmed its forecast for growth in oil supply from the United States and other producers outside the wider OPEC+ group this year.

(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christopher Cushing)