On Thursday, West Texas Intermediate oil futures get cheaper amid speculations that weekly inventory data, the publication of which is scheduled for today, will show that US crude oil inventories rose last week more rapidly than expected.
During European morning trade, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude oil for November delivery fell 40 cents, or 0.86%, to $ 46.24 for a barrel. A day earlier, the oil price on Nymex lost 2 cents, or 0.04%.
Today, the US Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on crude oil inventories. The report comes a day later, because of Monday's Columbus Day in the United States.
Government data expected today may show an increase in oil inventories for the last week by 2.9 million barrels, while gasoline stocks are forecasted to be reduced by 1.7 million barrels.
After the close of trading on Tuesday, American Petroleum Institute, which is an industry group, said that the WTI crude oil stocks in the US soared by 9.3 million barrels for the week ended October 9.
On the ICE exchange in London, Brent crude for November delivery rose 9 cents, or 0.17%, to $ 49.61 for a barrel. On Wednesday, oil futures for Brent crude dropped in price by 7 cents, or 0.18%.
The oil market has been unstable in recent months amid uncertainty over how quickly the surplus on the world oil market will decline.
World oil production surpassed the demand due to the boom in shale oil in the US and after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries decision of last year not to cut production.
Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members in the Persian Gulf said they intend to continue to keep their policies, maintaining high levels of production.
Since last summer, oil prices have lost nearly 60%, as the continuing concerns about the over-saturation of the world market brought down the prices of raw materials.
Today, the spread between Brent and WTI oil is $ 3.37 per barrel compared with $ 2.98 at the close of the previous session.