Oil Tumbles After U.S. Crude Draw Disappoints Market Bulls

Oil prices fell 5 percent to two-month lows on Thursday after the U.S. government reported a weekly crude draw within analysts' forecasts, disappointing market bulls who had expected larger declines.

Brent crude futures were down $2.36, or 4.8 percent, at $46.44 per barrel by 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT). The session low was $46.27, the lowest for Brent since May 11.

U.S. crude futures were down $2.23, or 4.7 percent, to $47.20. It earlier hit a two-month low at $44.87.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles fell 2.2 million barrels for the week ended July 1, drawing for a seventh week in a row.

But the EIA's figure came in just below the decline of 2.3 million barrels forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll but far less than the 6.7 million-barrel draw reported by trade group the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday.

"Expectations were high for this report, and they were dashed," said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.

(By Barani Krishnan; Additional reporting by Libby George in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy)