Oil price gains remained limited on Thursday as crude oil stocks in the U.S. surged much higher than expectations on Wednesday.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $66.12 per barrel at 0700 GMT on Thursday with a 0.2 percent increase after it closed the previous session at $65.95 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate was $56.24 a barrel at the same time -- a 0.2 percent loss after it ended the previous day at $56.13 per barrel.
OPEC and Russia's oil production cuts, in addition to Washington's sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, have been restricting additional supplies from entering the global oil market and pushed prices higher.
However, any further oil price growth has been limited by the U.S.' record high crude oil production and with crude inventories in the country soaring to beat market expectations.
The U.S., the world's largest oil producer, saw its crude output remain near a record high level of 12.1 million barrels per day for the week ending March 1, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.
Commercial crude oil inventories in the country jumped by 7.1 million barrels for the same week, compared to the market expectation of an addition of 1.2 million barrels.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr