Oil slumps $3/bbl on gasoline stockpiles, rate hikes and resuming supply | Reuters

Oil slumps $3/bbl on gasoline stockpiles, rate hikes and resuming supply | Reuters

Oil prices fell more than $3 a barrel on Thursday on higher U.S. gasoline stockpiles and after a European Central Bank (ECB) rate hike stoked demand worries, while returning oil supply from Libya and the resumption of Russia's gas flows to Europe eased supply restraints.

Brent crude futures settled at $103.86 a barrel, falling $3.06, or 2.9%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $96.35 a barrel, declining $3.53, or 3.5%.

Both were down more than $5 earlier in the session.

U.S. gasoline futures settled at $3.15, losing 13 cents, or 3.8% following a jump of 3.5 million barrels of the commodity in storage last week, U.S. government data showed on Wednesday, far exceeding analyst forecasts.

"If you don't need the gasoline, then you don't need the crude oil to make the gasoline, and that's the math that's killing crude oil right now," said Robert Yawger, executive director of energy futures at Mizuho.