Crude oil futures ended marginally lower on Thursday after two straight days of strong gains, amid traders reacted to inventory data and weighed energy demand prospects. The Energy Information Administration reported that US crude inventories fell by 5.1 million barrels for the week ended May 28. The data showed gasoline inventories increased by 1.5 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles went up by 3.7 million barrels. As per data released by the American Petroleum Institute, US crude oil stocks fell by 5.36 million barrels in the week ended May 28th compared to a drop of 0.439 million in the previous week and much higher than the market expectations of a 2.114 million barrels.
Crude oil futures for July lost 2 cents or 0.03 percent to settle at $68.81 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. August Brent crude fell 4 cents or 0.06 percent to settle at $71.31 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.