With the specter of Russia possibly wanting to ease the OPEC production cuts and a growing crude oil stockpile, U.S. oil futures dropped Thursday, falling 10 cents.
The less than 1% drop left July West Texas Intermediate crude at 33.61 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Brent futures rose 55 cents or up 1.5%, finishing the day on the ICE futures exchange at $35.29 a barrel.
Natural gas prices on the NYMEX finished up 10 cents and finished Thursday at $1.83 per MMbtu.
Local stocks were varied as SandRidge Energy rose about 2% and finished at $1.62 a share while Chesapeake Energy declined by 50 cents for a 1.5% drop, finishing the day at $35.29 a share.
ConocoPhillips was down 3.6% or $1.66 and ended Thursday’s trading at $43.01. Devon Energy was down 77 cents for a 6% drop and ended the day at $11.66 a share.
EOG Resources fell 2% or $1.10 and finished the day’s trading at $51.64. Marathon Oil fell 7.3% or 45 cents and ended at $5.70.
ONEOK saw a 32 cent drop and settled at $37.28. American Electric Power finished up 4.5% or $3.66 and finished at $85.10 a share.
The American Petroleum Institute reported that stockpiles expanded by 8.73 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with the data, raising questions about the strength of the market’s return to balance. Meanwhile, Chinese lawmakers approved a Hong Kong security legislation, setting the stage for increased tensions with America.
Oil’s rally started to falter Wednesday as Russia indicated it wants to stick with OPEC+ plans to ease output cuts from July. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reiterated their cooperation on the deal ahead of a June 9-10 meeting. While OPEC+ nations have shown high compliance with the current deal, investors are weighing if that will continue.