TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday, with U.S. crude giving up some of the previous session's gains that were driven by a surprise fall in inventories, while Brent moved further away from recent 26-month highs.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) (CLc1) dipped 2 cents to $52.12 a barrel by 0032 GMT. On Wednesday, the contract rose 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $52.14 but stayed below five-month highs.
Brent (LCOc1) was down 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $57.73 a barrel, slipping further away from Tuesday's more than two-year high of $59.49 following a near 1 percent fall in the previous session.
U.S. crude inventories
The crude draw provided some support to oil prices as refiners came back online following Hurricane Harvey last month, but gasoline stocks surprisingly rose and stocks of distillates were down by less than anticipated.
Another dampener on prices was U.S. crude production, which rose to 9.55 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, higher than before Harvey hit the Gulf Coast.
With Brent futures commanding their highest premium over WTI
That complicates efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers to push oil higher through output curbs, as every hike in price encourages more U.S. production.
