22.02.201808:25:00UTC+00Crude Oil Lower Despite API Inventories Surprise

Crude oil futures were lower Thursday morning as the dollar continued to strengthen on the euro.

The minutes from their latest European Central Bank meeting showed the policy makers thought it was "premature" to change forward guidance at its January meeting due to soft inflation.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is on track to raise interest rates gradually over the course of the year, according to the minutes of the Fed's most recent meeting.

This news overshadowed the some bullish US inventories data.

The American Petroleum Institute showed a surprising fall in U.S. oil inventories by around 900,000 barrels last week. Official data from the Energy Information Administration are due Thursday morning.

WTI light sweet oil was down 15 cents at $61.52 a barrel.