Oil falls

Oil prices fell on Thursday, with U.S. crude giving up some of the previous session´s gains that were driven by a surprise fall in inventories, while Brent moved further away from recent 26-month highs.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) dipped 18 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $51.96 a barrel by 0206 GMT after rising 26 cents in the previous session to just below 5-month highs.

Brent was down 26 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $57.64 a barrel, slipping further away from Tuesday´s more than two-year high of $59.49 following a near 1 percent fall in the previous session. U.S. crude inventories fell 1.8 million barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Department said on Wednesday, versus forecasts for a 3.4 million-barrel build.

The crude draw provided some support to oil prices as refiners came back online following Hurricane Harvey last month, but gasoline stocks surprisingly rose and stocks of distillates were down by less than anticipated.