U.S. crude fell to a nearly five-month intraday low Thursday as the market weighed a burst of optimistic news on demand against the global overhang of physical oil.
Stockpiles of U.S. crude and gasoline fell last week, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday, bolstering sentiment about the U.S. market.
But U.S. crude futures turned negative as problems with a major refinery in the U.S. Midwest cast doubt on the country’s ability to process its own crude oil.