Oil drops from 3-year high

Oil moved away from a 3-year high on Thursday, on signs that the 13 percent rise in crude since early December may have come to an end, but prices have received some support from a sudden drop in production and US crude inventories.

Prices got more support last night from the US, where crude stocks fell about 5 million barrels in the week ended January 5 to 419.5 million barrels.

Slightly below the 5-year average of just over 420 million barrels.

The US Energy Information Administration said US oil production fell 290,000 barrels per day to 9.5 million bpd, dampening expectations that production would exceed the 10 million bpd barrier.