Crude oil futures eased on Thursday pressured by firmer U.S. dollar and supply surplus concerns on thin Thanksgiving trading, reversing from rises in the wake of a smaller-than-expected U.S. inventory build and a fall in U.S. oil rig counts. Brent lost 34 cents, or 0.74 percent, to $45.83 a barrel as of 0731 GMT. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures had retreated by 10 cents at $42.94 a barrel after rising to $43.30 earlier the session. Oil has been weighed down by concerns of a supply glut as OPEC is determined to keep pumping oil vigorously to defend market share, alarming some of the grouping's weaker members who fear prices may slump further towards $20. U.S. crude was supported by the smaller-than-expected build in U.S. inventories, with stocks rising 1 million barrels in the week to Nov. 20 for a ninth consecutive weekly rise. This was below analyst expectations for a 1.2 million barrel rise, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. [EIA/S] "We expect inventories to continue to remain low with strong U.S. refinery utilization which was at 92 percent. U.S. crude production, on the other hand, seems to be continuing its decline," Daniel Ang at Phillip Futures said. "This will be ideal for prices in the longer run and if it continues, we should be seeing global oversupply easing." Analysts said U.S. crude was also boosted by a fall in oil rigs, a sign that drillers were waiting for higher prices before returning to the well pad. Drillers cut rigs for the 12th week in the last 13, data from services company Baker Hughes showed. In China, commercial crude oil stocks at the end of October fell 4.4 percent from the previous month in their biggest drop since at least 2010, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Thursday. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, gained 0.02 percent at 99.813, making the currency-denominated oil futures more expensive to other currency holders. Asian shares advanced on Thursday, while the euro remained under pressure on growing bets that the European Central Bank will roll out more stimulus soon even as the U.S. Federal Reserve looks set to raise interest rates. Source: Reuters
