Crude oil futures fall after Fed sits pat on rates, inventory build

By Aaron Sheldrick

TOKYO (Reuters) - Crude futures fell on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged and a weekly government report on oil stockpiles showed an inventory build that was within expectations.

U.S. and global oil benchmarks were not giving up much of the gains made on Wednesday after the government report on inventory build.

U.S. crude futures were down 38 cents at $45.56 a barrel at 0638 GMT. They rose more than 6 percent on Wednesday, snapping three days of losses.

Brent crude was down 39 cents at $48.66 a barrel, after rising nearly 5 percent in the previous session.

"It looks like there was a lot of momentum in last night's move so I would not be surprised to see it continue when the European and U.S. sessions open up," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.

U.S. crude stocks rose last week, while gasoline and distillate inventories fell more than expected, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.

Inventories climbed in line with trader expectations but the buildup was less than the 4.1 million barrel increase reported by industry group, the American Petroleum Institute, a day earlier.

Stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for U.S. futures fell 785,000 barrels, giving a bullish tone to the report. Gasoline and distillate inventories also dropped more than expected.

The U.S. Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and in a direct reference to its next policy meeting put a December rate hike firmly in play. Investors had expected the Fed to remain pat on rates, but the overt reference to December came as a surprise.

(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Richard Pullin, Joseph Radford and Michael Perry)