Oil prices drop, U.S. falls for 3rd day as Cushing stocks rise

TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Wednesday,
with U.S. crude falling for a third day after an industry report
that stocks at the Cushing delivery hub for the benchmark rose
last week, shrugging off a drop in overall inventories.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 15 cents, or 0.2%, at $61.44 a
barrel by 0118 GMT after gaining 2 cents on Tuesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) CLc1 crude was down 18
cents, or 0.3%, at $55.36 a barrel, having dropped 0.5% in the
previous session.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for WTI
rose by 1.2 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute
(API), an industry group, said. API/S
"Price action over the past 48 hours does illustrate just
how quick traders are to revive fears about sluggish demand amid
the thought of more abundant supplies," said Stephen Innes, Asia
Pacific market strategist at AxiTrader.
Demand concerns remain strong amid the 16-month old trade
war between the United States and China, which has hit economic
growth around the world, sapping demand for oil.
The United States and China were continuing to work on an
interim trade agreement, but it may not be completed in time for
U.S. and Chinese leaders to sign it next month, a U.S.
administration official said. The latest potential setback in the negotiations stalled a
rally in global share markets. MKTS/GLOB
Russia's deputy energy minister also said on Tuesday it was
too early to talk of deeper output cuts by OPEC and its allies,
adding to the pressure on the market. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
other producers including Russia - a grouping referred to as
OPEC+ - have cut oil output by 1.2 million barrels per day to
support prices since January.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 708,000 barrels in the week
ended Oct. 25 to 436 million, compared with analysts'
expectations for an increase of 494,000 barrels, according to
the API data.
Gasoline stocks dropped by 4.7 million barrels, compared
with analyst expectations for a drop of 2.2 million barrels, and
distillate stocks were down by 1.6 million barrels, versus an
expected fall of 2.35 million barrels.