Oil is falling after a significant increase in US crude inventories

Oil prices fell on Thursday after a large build in US crude inventories, but continued to move in a narrow range as hopes for a recovery in demand from China remained in focus.

And by 1042 GMT, Brent crude futures fell 36 cents, or 0.42 percent, to $ 85.02 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 29 cents, or 0.37 percent, to $ 78.30 a barrel.

Prices were pressured by a larger-than-expected build in US crude oil inventories last week. The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that inventories rose to the highest level since June 2021.

The rise was largely due to a modification in the data.

Brent has swung in the range of $80-90 a barrel over the past six weeks, while WTI has hovered between $72 and $83 since December.

The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that China will account for nearly half of global oil demand growth this year after easing COVID-19 restrictions.

On the supply side, the market is closely watching Russian oil production.

The International Energy Agency said that Russian oil exports fell in January by only 160 thousand barrels per day from their levels before the war in Ukraine, but about one million barrels per day of production will stop by the end of the first quarter.