Tokyo - Oil prices were mixed in Asia on Friday, coming under pressure following sharp losses in the previous session owing to continued worries about global oversupply, analysts said.
The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery, eased eight cents to $58.86 while Brent crude for June gained seven cents to $65.61 in late-morning trade.
WTI tumbled $1.99 in New York and Brent closed down $2.23 in London.
“There's been volatility coming into the crude market in the past few days and concerns about rising crude supply is one of the reasons,” Bernard Aw, market strategist at IG Markets in Singapore, told AFP.
“The market has become sensitive to data about supply... On one hand some are seeing supply as slowing but the numbers are not showing that,” he added.
Oil prices had climbed to close at fresh 2015 peaks on Wednesday as an initial reaction to the latest official US stockpiles report, which showed US crude reserves tumbled by 3.9 million barrels in the week to May 1, the first decline in 16 weeks.
Commercial crude stockpiles, currently standing at 487 million barrels, are more than 100 million barrels above the five-year average for this time of the year, according to Bloomberg News.
The bullishness in the market however wore off on Thursday as dealers digested data in the report showing US crude-oil production slipped only marginally, by 4 000 barrels to 9.4 million barrels a day.
Traders have been hoping a steady decline in US production could pave the way for an easing of a global supply glut that has depressed prices since last year.
Aw said dealers will next scrutinise the US jobs report for April to be released later on Friday to gauge whether the economy is strong enough for the Federal Reserve to begin raising ultra-low interest rates.
US employers likely added 228 000 workers to non-farm payrolls last month, after a 126 000 increase in March, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
AFP