Investing.com - U.S. crude oil prices inched down on Thursday, while Brent rose after Saudi Arabia said it was suspending oil shipping in the Red Sea.
West Texas Crude oil futures fell 0.03% to $69.28 a barrel as of 10:27 AM ET (14:27 GMT). Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., increased 0.05% to $73.97.
Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil exporter in the world, said it was temporarily halting oil shipments through the Red Sea after an attack by Yemen’s Houthi movement.
Prices had risen in earlier trading after data from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed U.S. crude supplies fell last week.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by 6.147 million barrels for the week ended July 20, much more than expectations for a draw of 2.600 million barrels, according to data from the EIA. Investors are also looking ahead to weekly oil rig data from Baker Hughes, which comes out on Friday.
The massive draw in crude supplies emerged as imports fell by 2.518 million barrels a day (bpd) and exports rose by 1.222 million bpd, the EIA said.
Meanwhile trade tensions between the U.S. and the EU eased after a productive meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday.
The two agreed to not impose car tariffs as the countries begin negotiations to cut trade barriers.
In other energy trading, Gasoline RBOB Futures increased 0.56% at $2.3153 a gallon, while heating oil rose 0.40% to $2.1598 a gallon. Natural gas futures were down 0.11% to $2.752 per million British thermal units.