Oil prices drop as US inventories climb

Oil prices retreated on Thursday as US crude stockpiles increased more than expected.

US crude supplies of last week gained 7.6 million barrels to 468.6 million barrels, 98 million barrels more than one year before, Xinhua cited from the Energy Information Administration (EIA)'s weekly report on Thursday.

Inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the US contract, gained 1.12 million barrels to 54.2 million barrels.

US crude production lost 76,000 barrels to 9.096 million barrels a day last week, according to the EIA's report.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted on Tuesday in a report that the global demand growth to slow in 2016 as price support is likely to wane. Global demand growth is expected to grow 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 95.7 mb/d in 2016.

The West Texas Intermediate for November delivery moved down 26 cents to settle at $46.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for November delivery decreased 44 cents to close at $48.71 a barrel on the London ICE Future Exchange.