West Texas Intermediate crude oil for July delivery was last seen down US$0.69 to US$60.51 per barrel, while July Brent crude was down US$0.66 to US$63.78.

The drop comes as OPEC+ readies to add another 411,000 barrel per day tranche of supply additions on June 1 and is considering adding a third same-sized hike in July as the Saudi-led group abandons a price-support strategy and moves to raise its share of the market and cut into price-sensitive U.S. shale-oil production.

Both the International Energy Agency and the U.S. Energy Information Administration see global oil inventories on the rise as OPEC+ returns the 2.2-million barrels per day of voluntary production cuts to market while output outside of the cartel is also climbing.

"At this rate, the 2.2 mbpd unwinding of voluntary output constraints will be completed by September, considerably loosening the oil balance and leading to a sharper-than-expected swelling of global oil inventories. Re-gaining lost market share and punishing disobedient members, namely Kazakhstan, has taken priority over supporting oil prices," PVM Oil Associates noted.

Still, the test for demand begins this weekend with the start of the U.S. summer driving season, which typically boosts the call on gasoline supplies. The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday said U.S. gas stocks stood at 2% under the five-year average last week while refineries produced 9.6-million barrels per day of the fuel, up from 9.4-million bpd a week earlier.

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