Crude oil futures fell on Thursday as investors remained cautious due to the existing glut of domestic oil inventories as crude production wanes, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
September West Texas Intermediate crude slid by $1, or 2.2%, to settle at $44.75 a barrel on its first full trading day on the New York Mercantile Exchange as a front-month contract.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, September Brent crude fell 97 cents, or 2.1%, to settle at $46.20 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a 2.3 million-barrel decline in U.S. crude oil supplies for the week ending July 15.
There is growing concern that the pace of decline in U.S. crude oil supplies has slowed while production has dropped.
“The global crude market could take longer to balance than expected, as key producers around the world maintain drilling and supply disruptions ease,” said Joseph George, commodity analyst at Schneider Electric.
Meanwhile, August natural gas added 3.4 cents, or 1.3%, to settle at $2.692 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.