Brent crude LCOc1 was down 9 cents at $46.56 a barrel at 1033 GMT. It reached a seven-month low of $44.35 on June 21. U.S. crude fell 17 cents to $44.07.

The August light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX gained 37¢ on June 26 to settle at $43.38/bbl. The September contract was up 34¢ to close at $43.61/bbl. The NYMEX natural gas price for July gained nearly 10¢ to a rounded $3.03/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $2.98/MMbtu, up 12¢. The Brent crude contract for August on London’s ICE increased 29¢ to $45.83/bbl while the September contract was up 29¢ to $46.04/bbl. The July gas oil contract dropped $1.75 to $409.50/tonne. OPEC’s basket of crudes on June 26 was $43.14/bbl, down 12¢.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures were trading up 45 cents, or 1.0 percent, at $45.99 per barrel at 0623 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 43 cents, or 1.0 percent, at $43.44 per barrel.

“Prices can go below $40 a barrel given the market is being dictated by sentiment and not fundamentals. There is nothing to stop it right now.”

Brent futures LCOc1 settled up 32 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $45.54 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 ended up 27 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $43.01 per barrel.

Total petroleum deliveries in May moved up by 4.9 percent from May 2016 to average 20.1 million barrels per day. These were the highest May deliveries in 10 years, since 2007, and the highest deliveries for any months in over 9 years, since January 2008. Compared with April 2017, total domestic petroleum deliveries, a measure of U.S. petroleum demand, increased 2.7 percent. For year-to-date, total domestic petroleum deliveries moved up 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

U.S. Rig Count is up 520 rigs from last year's count of 421, with oil rigs up 428, gas rigs up 93, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0. Canadian Rig Count is up 94 rigs from last year's count of 76, with oil rigs up 62, gas rigs up 33, and miscellaneous rigs down 1 to 0.

Preliminary production figures for May 2017 show an average daily production of 1 980 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which is a decrease of 128 000 barrels per day compared to April.

On Wednesday, Brent LCOc1 was flat at $46.02 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures CLc1 added 4 cents to $43.55.

Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive, said: “Global energy markets are in transition. The longer-term trends we can see in this data are changing the patterns of demand and the mix of supply as the world works to meet the challenge of supplying the energy it needs while also reducing carbon emissions. At the same time markets are responding to shorter-run run factors, most notably the oversupply that has weighed on oil prices for the past three years."