Oil falls in Asian trade

SINGAPORE: Oil prices eased in Asian trade on Thursday as traders took note of high distillate inventories, which indicated that a global economic recovery was still sluggish, analysts said.

New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, slipped 27 cents to USD 72.15 a barrel. The September contract expires later today.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery fell 26 cents to USD 74.33.

Market sentiment was dampened by data released by the US Department of Energy (DoE) yesterday which showed distillate stocks, which were "a real indicator of economic growth," at 27-year highs, said Jason Feer, Asia Pacific general manager of energy market analysts Argus Media in Singapore.

"There's these huge overhangs with middle distillates... Distillate stocks are still extremely bloated," he said.

Distillates, which include diesel and heating fuel, fell 700,000 barrels last week whereas analysts had pencilled in a gain of 500,000 barrels, but Feer said volumes were "still 15 to 20 per cent above last year."

He added that high levels of distillate stocks indicated that "economic growth is still quite sluggish."

The drawback in crude prices reversed gains yesterday, when data from the DoE showing an unexpected fall in crude inventories, indicating healthy demand, pushed the market up.