Oil prices have been held back by signs of an economic slowdown in China and Japan, plus a hike in US crude inventories.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 32 cents, or 0.5%, to reach $62.69 a barrel, according to Reuters.
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Brent crude continued their declining trend, falling 25 cents, or 0.4%, to trade at $66.38 a barrel.
The dip in oil prices was caused by a weak Chinese and Japanese industrial data, resulting in speculations among traders that the slowdown could spill over to pull down oil demand.
On Wednesday, China released data that showed factory growth in February fell to the lowest level since July 2016.
Traders suggested that the dip in Chinese industrial activity was hampered by a week-long Lunar New Year holiday earlier this month and stringent pollution rules that had their say on factory output.
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By GlobalDataFactors such as declining demand and pile up of inventory have led to a slump in Japan’s industrial output last month, the biggest fall since March 2011, when an earthquake rocked the country.
Based on a business survey, India’s factory activity fell to a four-month low in February as a result of marginally dip in demand.
Oil prices were also affected by data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which determined that crude stockpiles soared by 933,000 barrels in the week to 23 February to 421.2 million barrels.
Australia-based Rivkin Securities investment analyst William O‘Loughlin was quoted by the news agency as saying: “Climbing US production continues to weigh on the market as traders fear that the OPEC output cuts will be nullified by the rising US output.”
Rising US production continues to pose challenges to the efforts taken by OPEC and Russia to support oil prices.
