Oil prices ease after report of US crude inventories rise

Oil prices edged lower on Thursday after an industry report showing a build in U.S. crude stockpiles weighed on sentiment, falling back from gains made in the previous session on worries over supply disruptions in Russia.

Brent futures were down 17 cents at $75.87 a barrel by 0600 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 30 cents to $71.95. The March contract expires on Thursday and the more active April contract eased 22 cents to $71.88.

Oil prices, which held near a one-week high on Wednesday, were on track to snap a three-session winning streak on Thursday.

U.S. crude stocks rose by 3.34 million barrels last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures, on Wednesday.

Official oil inventory data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due on Thursday. Both reports were delayed a day by a U.S. holiday on Monday.

Analysts have forecast that about 2.2 million barrels of crude were added to U.S. stockpiles in the week ended on February 14. If the forecasts are correct, energy firms would have added crude into storage for four weeks in a row for the first time since April 2024.

Import tariffs announced by the Trump administration could also dent oil prices by raising the cost of consumer goods, analysts said, weakening the global economy and reducing fuel demand. Concerns about European and Chinese demand were also helping keep prices in check.

"It is natural to be concerned about the global economic outlook as Donald Trump takes a sledgehammer smashing away at the existing global 'free-trade structure' with signals of 25% tariffs on car imports to the U.S.," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief analyst commodities at SEB.

Separately, Russia said Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil flows, a major route for crude exports from Kazakhstan, were reduced by 30%-40% on Tuesday after a Ukraine drone attack on a pumping station. A 30% cut would equate to the loss of 380,000 barrels per day of market supply, Reuters calculations show.

However, other factors and potential boosts to oil supply added to concerns about prices.

In the Middle East, Israel and Hamas will begin indirect negotiations on a second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which could weigh on oil prices by reducing the risk of further supply disruption.

And potential restarts of oil flows from Iraq's Kurdistan region were offsetting supply risks, analysts at ING said.

"There's talk that these flows could resume soon, after being offline since early 2023. A resumption could bring 300,000 barrels of supply per day onto the market," ING analysts said in a note on Thursday.

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