Concerns on oil prices eased by EIA data

Crude oil prices slid lower Thursday after the Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory build of 6.1 million barrels for the week to October 8.

Gasoline inventory builds have also failed to put a lid on prices at the pump in the past couple of weeks. For last week, the EIA estimated a 2-million-barrel draw in gasoline stocks. This compared with a combined build of 3.5 million barrels for the two prior weeks.

Gasoline production averaged 9.6 million bpd last week, and middle distillate production averaged 4.7 million bpd.

In total, refineries processed 15.1 million bpd of crude oil last week, the EIA said in its weekly report.

Benchmarks are trading at multi-year highs because of the energy crunch that has pushed the prices of all fossil fuels much higher than many expected. Brent crude has been rising for five successive weeks.