Oil drops 2.5 percent as equity markets fall, inventories climb

By Stephanie Kelly

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices slumped to more than two-week lows on Thursday as global stock markets fell, with investor sentiment made more bearish by U.S. government data that showed domestic crude inventories rose more than expected last week.

Brent crude futures fell $2.08, or 2.5 percent, to $81.01 a barrel, by 11:22 a.m. EDT (1522 GMT). The contra posted a session low of $80.69, its weakest since Sept. 24. The global benchmark has retreated after hitting a four-year high of $86.74 on Oct. 3.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.81, or 2.5 percent, to $71.36 a barrel. WTI hit a session low of $71.08, the lowest since Sept. 21.

Crude inventories rose by 6 million barrels in the week to Oct. 5, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Thursday. Analysts had expected an increase of 2.6 million barrels.

Refinery crude runs fell by 352,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed, while refinery utilization rates dropped by 1.6 percentage points.

"It was a mostly bearish report. The large increase in overall crude oil inventories and a decent-sized increase at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub is a negative for prices, as it eases some of the supply crunch worries that have crept into the market," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York.

Falling U.S. equity markets and a global risk-off environment also weighed on crude futures. On Wednesday, U.S. stock markets tumbled, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Industrials indexes posting their worst day in eight months, as solid economic data reinforced expectations of multiple interest rate hikes over the next year.

"The demand side of the oil equation is always much more difficult to discern than the more transparent supply side and as equities slide amidst rate increases, the oil market could begin to discount a worst case scenario with regard to oil demand expectations," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates, said in a note.

OPEC cut its forecast of global demand growth for oil next year for a third straight month on Thursday, citing headwinds facing the broader economy from trade disputes and volatile emerging markets.

In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, producers were checking production platforms and beginning to return crews to more than 90 offshore facilities evacuated this week as Hurricane Michael moved through the Gulf.

Production shut-ins that temporarily halted 42 percent of Gulf oil output was restarting in some areas.

Hurricane Michael crashed ashore Florida on Wednesday as the third most powerful hurricane ever to strike the U.S. mainland. It has since weakened to a tropical storm.

(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York, Christopher Johnson in London and Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by Bernadette Baum)