Oil recovered some lost ground Thursday as data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that U.S. crude inventories fell more sharply than expected.
Brent crude futures jumped 76 cents to US$48.55 Thursday, rebounding from Wednesday’s slide when the price dropped 4.6%.
U.S. West Intermediate crude futures also climbed 79 cents to $45.92 a barrel.
The American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday said U.S. crude inventories were down 5.8 million barrels during the week ended June 30, 2017. That was ahead of the expected 2.3 million barrels.
However, analysts from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch and other investment firms have reduced their Brent forecasts to $50 this year and $52 in 2018.
Shares of
Encana Corp. (
TSX: T.ECA,
NYSE: ECA,
Forum) were active Thursday, easing 0.45% to $11.08.