Mubasher: Oil prices retreated on Thursday after industry data showed an unexpected buildup in US crude stockpiles, despite hopes of a thaw in the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, Reuters reported.

By 8:48 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures fell by 0.30% to $56.09 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures inched down by 0.08 at $60.65 pb.

Crude markets, which saw a rally of more than 4% in the prior session on strong figures from China, opened lower on Thursday, after the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) later-than-usual report revealed a rise of US crude inventories last week.

Oil inventories rose by 401,000 barrels in the week to 30 August to 429.1 million barrels, versus expectations of fall of 2.5 million barrels.

However, prices pared some losses to rise by around 1% on news that the US and China agreed to hold high-level trade talks in Washington in early October, before retreating again, while investors locked in their profits.

However, mounting concerns were that the US-Sino trade conflict took a heavy toll on the world’s economies, driving downgrades to oil demand growth outlooks.

For instance, UK energy major BP’s CFO Brian Gilvary told Reuters on Wednesday that global oil consumption is set to slow down, rising by less than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) this year.

“The overall picture still hasn’t changed [as] we haven’t made any steps to a real agreement,” Sydney-based CMC Markets chief strategist Michael McCarthy was quoted by Reuters.