WTI Posts Gain, Brent Crude Settles Lower on Thursday

Domestic crude oil prices settled slightly higher on Thursday as Brent crude posted back-to-back losses, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

July West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 4 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $48.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

August Brent crude, the global benchmark, lost 13 cents, or 0.3%, to end trading at $50.63 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Early Thursday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. crude supplies fell by 6.4 million barrels for the week ending May 26.

Late Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that supplies fell 8.7 million barrels last week. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expected the government to post a fall of 3.2 million.

Meanwhile, prices for natural gas fell after the EIA said domestic supplies of natural gas rose by a larger-than-expected 81 billion cubic feet for the week ending May 26.

Back on the New York Mercantile Exchange, July natural gas fell 6.3 cents, or 2.1%, to $3.008 per million British thermal units, marking its lowest finish since mid-March.