(Adds comment, charts, updates prices)
By Aaron Sheldrick
TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Oil prices slumped to their lowest
in two weeks after official figures showed a surprise jump in
U.S. inventories of crude, and rising cases of COVID-19 in
Europe, Russia, and some outbreaks of infections in China dented
hopes for an economic recovery.
Brent crude dropped $1.58, or 1.9%, to $83.00 a
barrel by 0502 GMT, having hit a two-week low of $82.32 earlier
and fallen by 2.1% in the previous session.
U.S. oil fell $1.39, or 1.7%, to $81.27 a barrel,
also a one-week low, after dropping 2.4% on Wednesday.
Outbreaks of coronavirus infections in China and record
deaths and the threat of lockdowns in Russia, along with rising
cases in western Europe were putting the brakes on a multi-week
rally in oil prices.
"A surge in new cases of COVID-19 threatens to disrupt the
recovery in oil demand," ANZ Research commodities strategists
Daniel Hynes and Soni Kumari said in a new report on Thursday.
In the U.S., the economy likely grew at the slowest rate in
more than twelve months in the June-September quarter amid a
resurgence of COVID-19 infections, amid strained global supply
chains and global shortages of goods like autos.
Crude stocks rose by 4.3 million barrels last week, the U.S.
Energy Department said, more than double the 1.9 million-barrel
gain forecast by analysts.
The "hefty" stock build came "on the back of a large jump in
net imports of crude oil and still sluggish refinery
processing," Citi Research commodities analysts said in a note.
Still, gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels to the
lowest in nearly four years, even as U.S. consumers struggle
with rising prices to fill their tanks.
At the WTI delivery hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, crude storage
is the most depleted in three years, with prices for
longer-dated futures contracts indicating supplies will stay low
for months.
(Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; editing by Richard Pullin)