London — Oil prices held just below eight-week highs on Thursday, supported by a steeper-than-expected decline in US crude inventories that boosted expectations of a shift to a more balanced market. Brent crude futures dipped 9c at $50.88 a barrel at 9.50am GMT, after rising about 1.5% in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate futures slipped 6c at $48.69 a barrel. US crude stocks fell sharply last week as refineries increased output and imports declined, while gasoline stocks decreased and distillate inventories dropped, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. The 7.2-million-barrel drop in inventories in the week ended July 21 was much more than the 2.6-million barrels forecast. "As encouraging as this may seem, the price recovery won’t begin in earnest until evidence of US oil re-balancing is mirrored on a global scale," Stephen Brennock at oil brokerage PVM said, referring to the drawdown in oil stocks. Expectations that the long-oversupplied market is...
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