09:09 AM EST, 11/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Oil prices moved lower early on Thursday following three days of gains on indications Chinese demand remains light and as U.S. inventories rose last week.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil for December delivery was last seen down $0.43 to US$68.27 per million British thermal units, while January Brent crude, the global benchmark, was down US$0.46 to US$72.10.

China reported its refineries again processed less oil in October, showing demand from the No.1 importer continues to falter as its economy weakens.

"China served a timely reminder about the true state of its oil sector. The country's refinery throughput declined for the seventh successive month in October. Although retail sales stabilized last month in the world's second biggest economy, industrial output growth decelerated adversely impacting the need for foreign crude oil," PVM Oil Associates noted.

The drop also follows on Thursday's U.S inventory report from the Energy Information Administration, which showed a larger than expected rise in stocks of 2.1-million barrels. Both the EIA and the International Energy Agency this week warned they expect supply to be in surplus by the second quarter of next year as production rises amid the faltering demand due to China's economic woes and an increasing market share for electric vehicles.