Oil falls on correction and profit-taking

Oil prices continued to drop as the US market opened on Thursday, to pull back from a 2-week high, and head for the first loss in 3 days on profit-taking and correction, but the today's losses are still limited thanks to the surprise decline in the US crude inventories according to the US Energy Information Administration's weekly report.

US crude fell 1.8% to $39.45 a barrel, after opening at $40.17, and hit a session-high of $40.27, while Brent fell 1.9% to $41.52, after opening at $42.34, with a low of $42.35. 

The US crude jumped 4.6% yesterday, posting it second straight daily gain and hit a 2-week high at $40.32, and Brent crude futures gained 4% and hit the highest since September 7 at $42.42. 

The US Energy Administration reported yesterday a drop in commercial inventories by 4.4 million barrels during the week ending September 11, beating estimates of a drop by 2.1 million.

Total inventories tumbled to 496 million barrels, the lowest since April 3 in a positive sign for US demand. 

While the US production rose 900,000 barrels during the past week, to a total of 10.9 million barrels per day, with production resuming after a wave of hurricanes and storms hit the Gulf of Mexico.