LONDON, Nov 17: World oil prices fell on Thursday, with stockpiles of US crude deemed sufficient by markets despite a surprise drop in inventories last week, analysts said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, lost 33 cents to $57.55 per barrel in pit dealing.

In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery slid 28 cents to $55.72 per barrel in electronic trade.

“The market remains in a downtrend with stocks of crude and heating oil currently ample as we head into the peak demand winter period,” Sucden analyst Sam Tilley said.

Crude futures had risen overnight in New York after data from the US Department of Energy showed an unexpected drop in crude stocks for the first time in six weeks.

The DoE said that crude stockpiles fell by 2.2 million barrels for the week to November 11. Analysts had forecast a rise of 1.6 million barrels.

Gasoline reserves fell by 900,000 barrels, confounding market expectations of a 1.3-million-barrel rise.

Distillates, used to make heating oil and diesel, posted the first rise in eight weeks to climb by 2.6 million barrels, beating analysts’ forecasts of a 600,000-barrel gain.—AFP