SINGAPORE: Brent crude dropped to a one-month low near $108 a barrel on Thursday, extending its longest losing streak in four years, as weak gasoline demand in the United States offset a rise in oil imports by China.
Investors were disappointed with data showing a rise in U.S. gasoline inventories last week, indicating demand was not as strong as expected during the peak summer driving season.
Brent crude fell 27 cents to $108.01 a barrel by 0703 GMT, down for a ninth straight session and matching a similar losing run in May 2010. It hit a low of $107.99 earlier in the day, the weakest since June 5.
U.S. crude was down for a tenth session at $101.79 a barrel, 50 cents below Wednesday's close. The front-month price is set to post its longest stretch of losses since July 1984.
A steeper fall in West Texas Intermediate has widened its spread with Brent to more than $6 a barrel after touching the narrowest in nearly a month on Wednesday.
Concerns over supply disruptions in Iraq have eased as exports from southern Basra continued amid an Islamic insurgency. Libya has restarted an oilfield which will double its production.
"The geopolitical premium on oil has been taken out. We can expect oil prices to be stable. For now, it's just noise," said Gordon Kwan, head of Asia oil and gas research at Nomura.
"From China, it is quite reassuring. Oil imports went up by 10 percent in the first half and this is supportive to the economy."
Hong Kong-based Kwan expects Brent to trade between $105 and $115 in the second half of the year.
China, the world's second-largest oil consumer, posted a 10.2 percent rise in crude imports in the first six months this year, customs data showed on Thursday. Analysts attributed the jump in imports to stockpiling.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast in June China's total oil demand would rise by 355,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 3.5 percent, for the whole of 2014.
Investors expect Beijing to implement more stimulus measures to support growth which could lift its fuel demand.
But fuel demand in the United States has been a letdown despite a gradual recovery at the world's largest economy.
"We expect gasoline demand to pick up, but so far, it has not surpassed late May or early June levels," Societe Generale's Michael Wittner said in a note.
Gasoline demand over the past four weeks was at 9.04 million bpd, down 0.4 percent from a year ago, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.
Stockpiles of the motor fuel rose 579,000 barrels, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 217,000-barrel drop. Crude inventories fell 2.4 million barrels in the week to July 4, slightly more than analysts' expectations for a decrease of 2.2 million barrels.
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