Oil prices slightly up with decline in US crude stocks

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices saw marginal gains during early trading on Thursday with a decline in the U.S.' crude oil stocks and production.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $66.24 per barrel at 0633 GMT with a 0.12% rise after it closed Wednesday at $66.16 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $60.88 a barrel at the same time with a 0.13% increase after it ended the previous session at $60.80 per barrel.

Crude oil production in the U.S. fell slightly by 7,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending Dec. 13, according to the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) data released on Wednesday.

Despite the decline, the world's largest crude oil producer is still pumping near record high levels at 12.8 million bpd.

EIA data shows that the U.S.' crude oil production first rose to its all-time highest level of 12.9 million bpd during the week ending Nov. 22.

Last week, commercial crude stocks in the country declined slightly by 1.1 million barrels, or 0.2%, to 446.8 million barrels for the week ending Dec. 13, the EIA data showed. The market expectation was a decrease of 1.3 million barrels.