04:29 PM EDT, 10/16/2025 (MT Newswires) -- US commercial crude stockpiles unexpectedly increased last week, while oil prices fell amid uncertainty over whether India had agreed to halt purchases of Russian oil.

Inventories of crude, excluding the strategic petroleum reserve, rose by 3.5 million barrels to 423.8 million barrels through the week ended Friday, the Energy Information Administration said Thursday.

The consensus was for a draw of 1.2 million barrels last week in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Propane and propylene stocks grew by 1.9 million barrels, while distillate fuel inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels. Motor gasoline dropped by 300,000 barrels. Total commercial petroleum inventories were up by 1.7 million barrels.

Both gasoline and distillate fuel output fell last week, the EIA said.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 1.2% at $57.57 a barrel in Thursday afternoon trade, while Brent dropped 1.2% to $61.18.

US President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him that New Delhi would halt oil purchases from Russia. However, an Indian government spokesman said Thursday he was "not aware of any conversation between the two leaders" that took place on Wednesday, BBC News reported.

Oil prices are on track to post weekly losses for the third week in a row, amid concerns that renewed trade tensions between the US and China could dampen crude demand.

"For investors, the risk is less about the harsh diplomatic tone than the underlying strategic decoupling - the US and China are now risking a breakup, with each side trying to achieve a position of strength by threatening to inflict greater damage on the other," said Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at Rystad Energy.

On Friday, Trump threatened China with steep tariff increases after Beijing moved to expand its rare earths export controls. However, in a social media post on Sunday about China, Trump said it "will all be fine."

China's recent decision to expand its rare earths export controls is a legitimate move and is meant to prevent rare earths' illegal outflow and misuse, China's Global Times reported Thursday, citing Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson He Yongqian.