Oil prices dipped today but stayed close to their highest in two and a half years, as data showed strong demand for crude imports in China and on increased refining activity in the US that drew more crude from inventories.
Trading was typically thin at the end of the year, with many traders still on holidays.
The US Energy Department said crude stocks fell 4.6 million barrels in the latest week. Inventories excluding the nation's strategic reserve have declined more than 11% in the last year.
US refining runs increased, pushing overall capacity use among the nation's refiners to 95.7%, the highest in December since 1998, according to the US Energy Department.
Refiners have profited in recent months as the spread widened between US crude and Brent futures prices.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slipped 13 cents to $59.51 a barrel this evening, a day after briefly touching $60 a barrel. Brent crude futures fell 11 cents to $66.33 a barrel.
This week, WTI broke through $60 a barrel for the first time since June 2015, while Brent breached $67 for the first time since May 2015.
A Reuters monthly poll showed analysts expect Brent crude to stay close to $60 in 2018.
Oil markets have tightened after a year of production cuts led by Middle East-dominated Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia.
OPEC cuts kicked off last January and are scheduled to continue throughout 2018.
Countering those cutbacks, US oil production has soared more than 16% since mid-2016 and is approaching 10 million bpd, trailing only OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and Russia.
In the most recent week, US production dipped modestly to 9.75 million bpd from 9.79 mln bpd the previous week.
Pipeline outages in Libya and the North Sea have also supported prices.
Libyan oil supplies were disrupted by an attack on a pipeline this week and flows towards the port of Es Sider were reduced by about 70,000 bpd today.
In the North Sea, the 450,000 bpd capacity Forties pipeline system was shut this month after a crack was found.
Both pipelines are expected to return to normal operations over the new year or in early January.
