LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters): Oil prices were little changed on Thursday after rising to a near one-week high in the previous session, as an industry report showing a buildup in US crude stockpiles pressured the market.
Brent futures were up 37 cents at $76.41 a barrel by 1252 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 23 cents to $72.48.
US crude stocks rose by 3.34 million barrels last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday.
Oil prices edged lower on Thursday because of the stock build in the US, said Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen.
"The market continues to lack a clear direction, with supply disruptions in Kazakhstan and the OPEC+ production increase delay being offset by global demand worries," Hansen said.
Official oil inventory data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due on Thursday.
Analysts have forecast that about 2.2 million barrels of crude were added to US stockpiles in the week ended February 14.
Separately, Russia said Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil flows, a major route for crude exports from Kazakhstan, were reduced by 30 per cent-40 per cent on Tuesday after a Ukraine drone attack on a pumping station.
A 30 per cent cut would equate to the loss of 380,000 barrels per day of market supply, Reuters calculations show.
However, other factors and potential boosts to oil supply added to concerns about prices.
Potential restarts of oil flows from Iraq's Kurdistan region were offsetting supply risks, analysts at ING said in a note.
Turkey, which hosts the port of Ceyhan that loads the Iraqi oil from the Kurdistan region, did not receive confirmation from Iraq on the resumption as of Thursday, the country's energy minister told Reuters.
Investors were spooked after the company posted lower earnings and recorded $2.3 billion in impairment losses.
A resumption of the Iraqi oil flows would add 300,000 barrels of supply per day onto the market, ING analysts said.
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