Oil down 1 percent; first U.S. crude build in six weeks above expectations

A worker checks the valve of an oil pipe at the Lukoil company owned Imilorskoye oil field outside the West Siberian city of Kogalym, Russia, A worker checks the valve of an oil pipe at the Lukoil company owned Imilorskoye oil field outside the West Siberian city of Kogalym, Russia, January 25, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Thursday after U.S. government data reported the first domestic crude inventory growth in six weeks, a build above market expectations.

Brent crude was down 66 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $51.15 per barrel by 11:09 a.m. EDT (1609 GMT).

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 65 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $49.53.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 7. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a more modest build of nearly 700,000 barrels. [EIA/S]

(Additional reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Bill Trott and Chizu Nomiyama)

Leave a Reply

To have your avatar appear when commenting, please signup for the Gravatar service. Your email address will not be published.

 characters available

To have your avatar appear when commenting, please signup for the Gravatar service.