By Bryan Wong
Investing.com - Oil was down on Thursday morning in Asia but capped its losses after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported (EIA) a large crude inventory draw.
EIA data released on Wednesday showed a draw of 4.512 million barrels against the 2.875 million- barrel draw forecast by analysts.
WTI futures were down 0.12% to $42.62 by 11:53 PM ET (4:53 AM GMT) and Brent oil futures fell 0.15% to $45.36.
The EIA said that while U.S. fuel demand rose to 19.37 million barrels per day (bpd) during the previous week, the highest since March, crude output fell from 11 to 10.7 million bpd, with some investors now starting to fear a shortage.
"The fourth quarter could see much higher oil prices if the energy market starts to brace for a shortage of oil," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Capping gains, however, was the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s monthly report predicting that global oil demand would fall by 9.06 million bpd this year, more than the 8.95 million bpd decline forecast in its report for the previous month.
The U.S. Congress’ stalemate over the COVID-19 stimulus package continued for a fifth day, increasing uncertainty over the U.S. economic recovery. Republican and Democratic negotiators heaped blame on each other on Wednesday, with Republicans refusing to negotiate their initial $1 trillion offer.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s nomination of Kamala Harris as his running mate on Wednesday added to some investors’ concerns, due to her anti-fracking position.