Investing.com - Crude oil futures retreated from lofty highs hit in the previous session on Thursday, after Saudi Arabia boosted crude production to the highest in three decades in March.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for June delivery slumped $1.00, or 1.59%, to trade at $62.32 a barrel during U.S. morning hours. A day earlier, London-traded Brent prices surged $3.51, or 5.87%, to settle at $63.32, the highest level since December 18.
Saudi Arabia increased oil output by about 668,000 barrels a day in March from a month earlier to hit a total of 10.294 million barrels, underlining concerns over a glut in global supplies.
Elsewhere, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for May delivery fell $1.01, or 1.79%, to trade at $55.38 a barrel. On Wednesday, Nymex oil jumped $3.10, or 5.82%, to close at $56.39 after hitting an intraday peak of $56.69, the most since December 23.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report Wednesday that crude oil inventories rose by 1.3 million barrels last week to a total of 483.7 million, below expectations for an increase of 4.1 million barrels.
U.S. oil futures have been well-supported in recent sessions due to mounting expectations that U.S. shale oil production has peaked and may start falling in the coming months amid an ongoing collapse in rigs drilling for oil.
Meanwhile, the spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts stood at $6.94 a barrel, compared to $6.93 by close of trade on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar edged lower as the release of weak U.S. data fuelled further uncertainty over the strength of the economy and the timing of a rate hike.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 11 increased by 12,000 to 294,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000. Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 2,000 to 280,000 last week.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued in March declined by 5.7% last month to 1.039 million units from February’s total of 1.102 million. Analysts expected building permits to fall by 2.0% to 1.080 million units in March.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts rose by 2.0% in March to hit 926,000 units from February’s total of 908,000 units, below expectations for an increase of 15.9% to 1.040 million.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.49% to 98.08.