Oil prices fall

Reuters

Singapore

Oil prices fell early, weighed by the gradual return of Canadian oil sands production, reversing a sharp rise the previous day when the U.S. government detailed an unexpected fall in crude inventories.

International Brent crude futures were trading at $47.13 per barrel at 0143 GMT on Thursday, down 47 cents, or 1 percent, from their last settlement. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 38 cents or 0.8 percent at $45.85.

Traders said the dips were largely a result of profit taking following intra-day Brent price rises of up to $2.95 the previous day.

"A lot of people think that yesterday's jump was a bit over the top, so they've taken the profit while they could this morning," said one oil trader.

The U.S. EIA said on Wednesday that U.S. crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels to 540 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 714,000 barrels and the API reported build of 3.5 million barrels in preliminary data.