Oil falls after U.S. reports crude drawdown within forecasts

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices turned negative on Thursday after the U.S. government reported a weekly crude draw that was within analysts' forecasts, disappointing the bulls in the market who had expected larger declines.

Brent crude futures were down 70 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $48.10 per barrel by 11:04 a.m. EDT (1504 GMT). It rose 1.6 percent earlier to a session high of $49.59.

U.S. crude futures were down 63 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $46.80.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles fell 2.2 million barrels for the week ended July 1, drawing for a seventh week in a row.

 

The EIA's figure came in just below the decline of 2.3 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll but far less than the 6.7 million-barrel draw reported by trade group the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy)