SINGAPORE: Oil traded near the lowest level in a month after a bigger-than-expected gain in American stockpiles overshadowed tensions between the US and Saudi Arabia over a missing critic of the kingdom.
Futures in New York were little changed, after plunging 3% Wednesday, the biggest drop since August. US crude inventories rose 6.49 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration reported, more than twice the rate forecast in a Bloomberg survey before the data was released. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and his top diplomat cautioned against putting the entire US-Saudi relationship at risk over dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi.