New York — Oil prices rebounded from earlier losses, although they were still down on the session, after the US energy department reported a larger-than-expected decline in US inventories and a fall-off in weekly production on Thursday. The market was still under pressure, though, from a bearish outlook by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which lowered its forecast for oil demand for 2018. Oil has strengthened in recent weeks due to a sharp drawdown in distillates feeding expectations for renewed demand, but it is unclear whether US crude prices will regain the high of nearly $53 a barrel reached in late September. Brent crude oil was down 95c at $56 a barrel by 3.35pm GMT. US light crude was down 92c to $50.38 a barrel. Both benchmarks have risen more than 20% from their lows in June as world oil markets tightened. Crude inventories fell by 2.7-million barrels in the week to October 6, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 2-million barrels. Distillate stocks...
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