November New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crudes were traded at $22.90 per barrel at 0755 GMT, down 16 cents from New York's close.

The contract surged in New York on Wednesday, settling 76 cents higher on the day, after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported an unexpectedly large drop in weekly crude stocks.

API said crude stocks were down by 7.1 million barrels, when the market had expected a 1.25 million drawdown.

Traders said the latest price slip on Thursday was largely due to traders cashing in short term gains from a rise in prices this week.

At the New York close, US crude prices had recouped $2.16per barrel or 10 per cent from Friday's settlement.

Prices fell each day last week, rebounding only at the start of this week as buyers started to move back into the market.

The renewed possibility of the United States selling some oil from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) also spooked the market, prompting a slight sell-off on the US crude futures market.