Oil slips on surprise rise in U.S. crude stocks

By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday
after data showed U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose last week,
reigniting worries about pandemic restrictions cutting into fuel
demand.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures fell
27 cents, or 0.5%, to $53.04 a barrel at 0147 GMT, following two
days of gains on hopes of massive COVID-19 relief spending under
new U.S. President Joe Biden.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures similarly dropped 26 cents, or
0.5%, to $55.82 a barrel.
U.S. crude oil inventories rose 2.6 million barrels in the
week to Jan. 15, according to data from the American Petroleum
Institute, an industry group, compared with analysts' forecasts
in a Reuters poll for a fall of 1.2 million barrels. API/S
"Oil prices look a tad vulnerable to potential profit-taking
after U.S. crude stockpiles bearishly rose 2.56 million against
consensus draw," Axi chief market strategist Stephen Innes said
in a note to clients.
However gasoline stocks and distillate inventories, which
include diesel, distillate and jet fuel, rose by less than
analysts had expected.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is due to release
its weekly inventory report on Friday.
Axi's Innes said COVID restrictions on mobility were hurting
the near-term outlook for oil demand, though traders had been
looking beyond that on the hopes that vaccine rollouts would
ease lockdowns.
"Simultaneously, the near-term China crude demand forecast
looks high and susceptible to revision lower as lockdowns spread
in the country ahead of the Lunar New Year," he said.
The Biden administration has committed to curb carbon
emissions and among his first actions as president, Biden
announced America's return to the Paris climate accord and
revoked a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline project from
Canada. The administration is also committed to ending new oil and
gas leasing on federal lands, Biden's press secretary said,
although Biden has not laid out a timeline for achieving that
goal.