U.S. crude oil prices fall as inventories hit record high

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude prices dipped in early Asian trading on Thursday as oil storage levels hit record highs, and Goldman Sachs said prices would remain low and volatile until the second half of the year.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $27.37 per barrel at 0022 GMT, down 8 cents from their previous close and more than 20 percent below a peak reached in late January following a brief rally.

Inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery point for U.S. crude futures rose to an all-time high just shy of 65 million barrels, data from the government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday.

 

The overhang in oil supplies, together with an economic slowdown in China, means that prices will remain low until the second half of the year, Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients.

"The risks of China growth concerns and oil price downside ... materialised faster than we anticipated," the bank said.

"We expect oil prices will continue to fluctuate between $20 per barrel (operational stress level) and $40 per barrel (financial stress level) with significant volatility and no price trend until 2H2016," it added.

Oil prices have fallen almost 75 percent since mid-2014 as producers pump 1-2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand, just as China's economy grows at its lowest rate in a generation.

(Editing by Richard Pullin)