New York — Oil prices were steady in see-saw trade on Wednesday, hitting their highest since mid-2015 and then retreating after US government data showed that the latest weekly draw in domestic crude stocks was not as big as an industry trade group had reported.The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said US crude stocks decreased by 2.4-million barrels during the week of October 27. That exceeded the 1.8-million barrel draw forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll but fell well short of the 5.1-million barrel decline reported late on Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute (API)."Oil prices fell since the release of the [EIA] report," said Carsten Fritsch, oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, Germany, noting that the crude draw was "significantly less than the API numbers."Brent futures were down 16 US cents, or 0.3%, at $60.78 a barrel by 11.33am EDT (3.33pm GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 3c, or 0.1% at $54.35.Before EIA reported the inventory d...

Subscribe now to unlock this article.

Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).

There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.

Cancel anytime.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.