Investing.com - Crude oil prices eased in Asia on Friday with US rig count data ahead expected to set the tone after last week's steady reading of 747.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for February delivery eased 0.13% to $61.93 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent was quoted at $68.00.
Overnight, crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday after data showing crude stockpiles fell for the seventh-straight week offset a larger than expected build in product inventories.
Crude oil prices' bullish start to the week continued following an Energy Information Agency (EIA) inventory report showing crude stockpiles fell more-than-estimated but gains were capped somewhat as both distillates and gasoline inventories rose.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by roughly 7.4 million barrels for the week ended Dec. 29, beating expectations of a draw of 4.7 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – rose by 4.8 million barrels, well above expectations for a rise of 2 million barrels, while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil – rose by 8.9 million barrels, confounding expectations for a rise of just 500,000 barrels.
US distillate supplies are 20 million barrels below 2016 levels but just one million barrels shy of the ten-year seasonal average.
Crude production, however, continued to advance toward 10 million barrels per day, despite the Enchilada platform fire halting some Gulf of Mexico production. Total weekly U.S. production jumped by 28,000 barrels a day to nearly 9.8 million barrels a day, EIA reported on Thursday.