Oil prices reversed early losses on Thursday as a U.S. government report showed an unexpected decline in U.S. crude stockpiles and dollar strength waned..
Brent crude futures were up 63 cents, or 1%, at $66.05 U.S. a barrel mid-morning Thursday, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 83 cents, or 1.4%, to $62.51 U.S. a barrel.
Data released mid-morning Thursday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed commercial crude inventories south of the border fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week to Feb. 16. Economists surveys said stocks were expected to have risen by 1.3 million barrels.
EIA data also revealed crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub for WTI fell by 2.7 million barrels
The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday had reported an unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories by 907,000 barrels to 420.3 million barrels for the week to Feb. 16.
