Oil prices fell ahead of the release of a US government report expected to show US crude and gasoline supplies rose last week.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery dropped 13 cents to USD 63.36 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midmorning in Singapore.
The contract on Wednesday rose 34 cents to settle at USD 63.49 a barrel.
There were no clear drivers for Thursday's decline in crude futures.
"It seems some traders are closing positions as it's the end of the month," said Hitoshi Inagawa, a Tokyo-based trader with Yutaka Shoji.
The US Energy Department's weekly inventory report to be released today will weigh heavily on energy markets.
It is forecast to show domestic gasoline stocks rose 1 million barrels for the week ended 25th May, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts.
Crude oil inventories were expected to climb about 300,000 barrels, and distillates stocks were predicted to rise about 500,000 barrels, according to the poll.
July Brent crude lost 4 cents to USD 67.80 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London, after tumbling 50 cents overnight to settle at USD 67.84 a barrel.
News on Tuesday that Valero Energy Corp. restarted refineries in Delaware and Texas was tempered by reports BP PLC was delaying the restart of a refinery in Toledo, Ohio, and that Sunoco Inc. had shut down part of a New Jersey refinery.- DDNews India
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