Singapore — Oil prices dipped on Friday as high US crude exports outweighed lower crude inventories in the world’s biggest consumer of the fuel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.73 a barrel at 4.49am GMT, down 4c from their last settlement. Brent crude futures were down 6c at $66.33 a barrel. Traders said crude was weighed down by demand entering seasonal lows as the northern hemisphere comes out of winter and by high US exports. US crude exports jumped to just above 2-million barrels a day last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Thursday, close to a record high of 2.1-million hit in October. That helped pull down net imports to the lowest level on record of below 5-million barrels a day. US crude oil production was virtually unchanged last week at 10.27-million barrels a day, close to levels of top producer Russia and more than Opec-kingpin Saudi Arabia pumps. Prices were prevented from falling further by a decline in US ...
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