Oil falls from one-month high after US fuel inventory surge

SINGAPORE :Oil prices lost ground on Thursday, falling more than US$1 a barrel from their highest levels in more than a month after U.S. fuel stockpiles surged amid declining demand. The global benchmark Brent crude futures fell US$1.12, or 1.40per cent, to US$79.68 a barrel, as of 0423 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost US$1.04, or 1.3per cent, to US$76.81 a barrel. U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell last week while gasoline inventories surged more than 10 million barrels, the biggest weekly build since April 2020, as supplies backed up at refineries due to reduced fuel demand. [EIA/S] "Implied product demand – particularly for gasoline – slumped, suggesting that the public were cautious about travel in the wake of surging cases of the Omicron variant," Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics said in a note.