Oil prices slipped on Thursday, balancing only some of the previous day’s gains that happened due to the unexpected drawdown in crude oil stocks in the United States.
Brent crude was down 12 cents, or 0.2% at $75.34 a barrel by 0649 GMT, after surging 2.5% on Wednesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $72.47 a barrel rallying 3.1% the previous day.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil and fuel stockpiles dropped last week, as refiners in the U.S. Gulf region and oil facilities offshore were still recovering from Hurricane Ida.
The EIA said that crude inventories fell by 6.4 million barrels to 417.4 million barrels in the week to Sept. 10 as compared with expectations for a 3.5 million barrel drop.
On Thursday analysts from ANZ Research said, “The data follow warnings from the International Energy Agency that supply lost from storms in the Gulf of Mexico would offset gains from OPEC,” analysts from ANZ Research said in a note on Thursday.
Hurricane Ida caused a global decline in supply for the first time in five months but the market is gradually approaching balance in October as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, a grouping called OPEC+, are planning to increase supply.
According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the storm kept shut a large portion of the U.S. Gulf offshore oil and gas production. About 30% of U.S. Gulf production was halted as of Wednesday.
