Oil slipped below $62 a barrel today after a fifth weekly build in US crude stocks knocked prices 1.5 per cent.
US crude dropped 22 cents to $61.95 a barrel, adding to yesterday's 93 cent fall that ended a two-day rally. Brent crude fell 33 cents to $62.61 a barrel.
The US Energy Information Administration said yesterday in its weekly report that crude inventories rose 4.8 million barrels last week, beating expectations of a 2.7 million barrel climb.
"News of a fifth consecutive weekly stock build is putting a general weight on oil prices," said Justin Smirk, senior economist at Westpac in Sydney.
Stocks on the US Gulf Coast, the hub of the oil industry for the world's biggest energy consumer, are now at their highest since 1990, and may be close to full capacity, the EIA added.
The impact on crude prices was cushioned by a fall in fuel inventories hit by extensive refinery maintenance as companies rush to meet new, cleaner fuel specifications.
US distillate stocks fell 3.9 million barrels last week, while gasoline slipped 900,000 barrels. But fuel stocks are still well above normal, and refinery runs rebounded 2.7 percentage points to 85.7 per cent of capacity on the week.
Gasoline futures fell 1.2 per cent on today to $1.8075 per gallon, down about 4 per cent from Tuesday's five-month high struck on news of a refinery outage.