Oil fell on Thursday as supply concerns in Nigeria eased after the country's oil ministry prevented a potentially crippling strike by workers at Chevron. But falling US oil stocks and comments from the White House that Saudi Arabia was unlikely to raise output in the near term supported prices, which have climbed 40 percent this year.
US crude fell 73 cents to $135.95 a barrel by 0558 GMT, after settling up $2.67 at $136.68 a day ago on the Nigerian worries. London Brent crude slid 66 cents to $135.78. Nigeria's oil ministry intervened at the eleventh hour on Wednesday to avert a strike at Chevron, saying it had persuaded the firm to reduce its expatriate workforce.
A senior oil workers' union had accused Chevron of having too many foreign staff, and a strike could have slashed output from the world's eighth-biggest oil producer. But some support came after comments from the White House, which said it was not expecting Saudi Arabia to announce an output hike when producers and consumers meet in the kingdom on June 22 to address soaring oil prices. In the United States, official data showed crude oil stocks fell for a fifth week in a row, lending further support to crude prices.
Stocks of distillates, including heating oil and diesel, rose by 2.6 million barrels, above forecasts for a 1.8-million-barrel rise, while US gasoline stockpiles fell 1.2 million barrels, compared with calls for an 800,000-barrel rise. Later on Thursday, traders will watch US data on initial jobless benefit claims and leading economic indicators for May, to gauge the economic health of the world's No 1 oil consumer.
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