Oil futures ended Thursday’s session with a modest gain, with U.S. prices recouping only a small portion of the more than 3% loss they suffered a day earlier on the back of a weekly rise in U.S. crude inventories and strength in the U.S. dollar. Talk of a release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve has weighed on oil prices, “although it’s not immediately clear what effect such a release might have apart from keeping a lid on prices,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. December West Texas Intermediate oil CLZ21, -0.11% rose 25 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $81.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange following a 3.3% loss on Wednesday.
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