Investing.com - U.S. oil fluctuated on Thursday, moving sharply higher before trimming gains as expectations for the U.S. admistration to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement overshadowed recent fears of a global supply glut.
U.S. crude futures for July delivery were up 0.25% at $48.44 a barrel, off Wednesday’s three-week low of $47.74.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, the July Brent were down 0.14% to $50.69 a barrel, off the previous session’s three-week trough of $50.24.
Trump said he would announce later on Thursday a decision on whether to keep the United States in a global pact to fight climate change, amid mounting speculation the U.S. President is preparing to pull out of the Paris agreement.
The commodity was also buoyed by a report by the American Petroleum Institute showing that crude inventories were down by 8.7 million barrels in the week to May 26, compared to expectations for a decrease of 2.5 million barrels.
Crude prices tumbled earlier in the week, after Libya's National Oil Corporation said on Monday that oil production is expected to rise to 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) this week.
The data added to concerns over a global supply glut as U.S. shale oil drilling continues to climb.
The concerns came amid continued uncertainty over whether the recent OPEC agreement to extend production cuts will actually manage to reduce global output.
OPEC and non-OPEC members agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March last week, but stuck to production cuts of 1.8 million bpd agreed in November last year, against expectations that the oil cartel was set to announce deeper production cuts.
As part of the agreement, Nigeria and Libya will remain exempt from making cuts while Iran would be allowed to retain the right to increase production to the same reference level, around 3.797 million barrels a day, agreed in November last year.