* U.S. crude stocks up, gasoline inventories spike-EIA
* U.S. close to trade deal with Beijing - Trump
* U.S. drillers cut rigs for record 12th month -Baker Hughes
* OPEC+ seen extending oil supply cuts at December talks
(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to settlement)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Oil eased on Wednesday after a
report showing U.S. crude inventories grew unexpectedly last
week, while gasoline stocks surged and production hit another
record.
Losses were limited by optimism that a U.S.-China trade deal
would be reached soon.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 settled at $64.06 a barrel, down
21 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 settled at
$58.11 a barrel, shedding 30 cents.
WTI trade volumes lower ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving
holiday, with lots of front-month contracts trading down about
5% compared with the previous session.
U.S. crude stocks swelled by 1.6 million barrels last week
as production hit a record high at 12.9 million barrels per day
and refinery runs slowed, the Energy Information Administration
said. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a drop of 418,000
barrels. EIA/S
The more bearish news from the EIA was that U.S. gasoline
inventories soared 5.1 million barrels, compared with
expectations for a 1.2 million-barrel gain.
U.S. gasoline futures RBc1 dropped 3.63 cents, or 2.1%, to
$1.67 a gallon.
"EIA's estimate of a further increase in crude production to
a record pace of 12.9 (million bpd) appeared to provide a
significant catalyst behind today's selling," Jim Ritterbusch,
president of trading advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates,
said in a note. "The RBOB (gasoline) futures provided a drag on
the rest of the complex as a result of a much
larger-than-expected gasoline stock build."
Oil prices pared losses slightly after a report showing U.S.
oil drillers reduced the number of drilling rigs for a record 12
months in a row. RIG/U The rig count is an indication of
future supply.
Drillers cut three oil rigs in the week to Nov. 27, bringing
the total count down to 668, the lowest since April 2017, energy
services firm Baker Hughes Co BRK.N said in data released
early due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Hopes that Beijing and Washington would strike a trade deal
limited losses in oil.
Prices had risen for the last two days on expectations that
China and the United States, the world's two biggest crude
users, would soon sign a preliminary agreement, signalling an
end to their 16-month trade dispute.
"Trade deal optimism persists," said Tamas Varga of oil
broker PVM. "The belief in a positive trade deal continues
unabated."
That was fuelled by comments from U.S. President Donald
Trump on Tuesday, who said the United States and China were
close to agreement after top negotiators spoke by telephone and
agreed to keep working on remaining issues.