By Santosh Menon
U.S. crude for March delivery
Analysts and traders said production shutdowns in the North Sea and in Nigeria, where Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday it was halting 130,000 barrels per day of output because of pipeline leaks, was helping oil.
"At the end of last year, if you had news like this, it (oil) would be hitting new highs. Now every time there is a rally, it seems to get sold into. I think funds are continuing to liquidate their positions," said Christopher Bellew at Bache Commodities.
Fresh pointers to weaker demand emerged on Wednesday as a
government report showed U.S. crude stockpiles rose 7 million
barrels last week, well above forecasts for a 2.6 million
barrel build, while gasoline stocks rose 3.6 million barrels to
their highest level since February 1994.
"In a week rife with bearish economic data, numbers on oil fundamentals in the U.S. are following suit. Slipping gasoline demand growth, for instance, illustrates the now evident slowing down of U.S. GDP growth," said Jan Stuart, economist at UBS.
In addition to the souring economic outlook, fuel demand has been curbed this winter by milder than usual weather in the U.S. Northeast, normally a big consumer of heating oil.
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Leff; Editing by James Jukwey)
