Picture used for illustrative purpose. File

Gulf Today Report 

Oil prices dropped on Thursday following an unexpected gain in US crude inventories and resurgence of COVID-19 cases in India.

Brent crude futures fell 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $65.12 a barrel by 05:27 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $61.14 a barrel, after losing $1.32 on Wednesday.

According to the Energy Information Administration, US crude oil stockpiles unexpectedly gained, rising by 594,000 barrels countering analysts’ expectations of a 3 million barrel drop.

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Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities said, "What is hurting the market sentiment is also the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic is spreading again at a fast pace in India and Japan despite the fact there had been hopes that the spread of vaccination would improve the infection situation."

On Thursday, India, the world's third-largest oil user recorded 314, 835 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily increase recorded globally.

The world 4th oil importer, Japan is likely to issue a third state of emergency on Tokyo and other western prefectures.