U.S. crude oil falls more than 1%, on pace for worst month of year as gasoline demand is soft

U.S. crude oil fell more than 1% Thursday and is on pace for its worst month of the year, as gasoline demand is soft with summer driving season now underway.

U.S. crude oil is down 4.9% in May, its worst performance since December. Brent has lost 6.8% this month, putting the global benchmark on pace for its first negative month in five.

U.S. gasoline stockpiles increased by 2 million barrels last week as demand fell by 166,000 barrels per day in the runup to the Memorial Day holiday, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. The daily average for gasoline demand came in at 8.6 million bpd, down 1.4% from the year-ago period.

Here are Thursday’s closing energy prices:

• West Texas Intermediate July contract: $77.91 a barrel, down $1.32, or 1.67%. Year to date, U.S. oil is up 8.74%.
• Brent July contract: $81.86 a barrel, down $1.74, or 2.08%. Year to date, the global benchmark is up 6.2%.
• RBOB Gasoline June contract: $2.40 per gallon, down 2.43%. Year to date, gasoline futures are up 14.3%.
• Natural Gas July contract: $2.57 per thousand cubic feet, down 3.53%. Year to date, natural gas is up 2.3%.

Oil prices have traded in a tight range over the past month as inventories have stabilized. However, soft economic data points to further downside risks, according to Amarpreet Singh, energy analyst at Barclays. Demand in China appears to have softened in the first quarter, Singh told clients in a note.

Investors are now looking ahead to inflation data on Friday and a crucial OPEC+ meeting on Sunday that will review the group’s production levels.

OPEC+ members are discussing maintaining their voluntary production cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day through the end of the year, sources told Reuters ahead of the meeting.