LONDON: The world oil market dipped after rallying on the back of the first drop in US stockpiles for six months as well as a weaker dollar.
Brent North Sea crude for June delivery lost 42 cents to stand at $66.36 a barrel in London just after midday.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June shed 11 cents to $59.52 a barrel. The latest jump came after Wednesday’s US Department of Energy inventory report, which showed a 500,000 barrel drop in petroleum stocks to 61.7 million barrels at the key Cushing, Oklahoma trading hub.
While the decline was modest, it marked the first drop since late November. Traders are taking the decline as a sign that producers are cutting back at key US petroleum sites. However, a chief strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, Ric Spooner said that the market appears to be happy enough with steady production levels and the reduction in inventory.
