Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday owed to lingering supply concerns amid the possibility OPEC+ may agree to accelerate oil production hikes in July. Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing crude oil inventories in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the week ended May 23. The EIA said crude oil inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels last week after climbing by 1.3 million barrels in the previous week, while street had expected crude oil inventories to rise by 1.0 million barrels.
Benchmark crude oil futures for July plunged $0.90 or 1.46% at $60.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery fell $0.75 or 1.16% to settle at $64.15 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.