WTI Crude Trades Lower, Brent Crude Rises on Thursday After Increase in Supply Inventory

Domestic crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday after U.S. government revealed an uptick in domestic crude inventories following Hurricane Harvey and the related refinery disruption in Texas, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

October West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $49.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

On the London ICE Futures Exchange, November Brent crude, the global benchmark, edged up by 29 cents, or 0.5%, to end trading at $54.49 a barrel.

After nine weeks of declines, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported early Thursday that domestic crude supplies climbed by 4.6 million barrels for the week ending September 1.

Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts forecast a rise of 2.7 million barrels for crude stocks while a survey from The Wall Street Journal showed expectations for a larger rise of 5 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute reported Wednesday that U.S. crude supplies rose 2.8 million barrels last week.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices saw a modest decline after separate EIA data showed that U.S. supplies of the commodity rose by 65 billion cubic feet for the week ending September 1, matching the average forecast of analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts.

October natural gas shed 1.9 cents, or 0.6%, to $2.981 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.