Crude oil prices dipped over one-and-a-half percent on Thursday after supply concerns eased amid a larger-than-expected build in US oil stocks. As of 1325 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, shed $1.65 (-1.52 percent) to reach 107.13 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, fell to $102.57 a barrel, down by $1.68 (-1.61 percent). The price for Opec basket was recorded at $106.07 a barrel with an increase of 3.59 percent. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey. Arab Light was available at $112.90 a barrel with an increase of 2.58 percent and the price of Russian Sokol jumped to $98.71 a barrel with a 2.30 percent increase. Oil stocks in the US rose by more than 9 million barrels last week, the US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, driven in part by releases from the nation’s strategic reserves. According to experts, oil will remain a volatile trade, but it seems energy traders are growing more confident that supply shortages are just around the corner. They said that there isn’t unanimity on the part of the EU so far on whether they will fully move to cut out Russian crude flows but the market may price in that as an eventuality. Russia is the world’s second-largest energy exporter. It accounts for about 10 percent of the world’s energy output, including 17 percent of its natural gas and 12 percent of its oil. It supplies about 40 percent of Europe’s gas, while Russian crude accounts for about 3 percent of US oil imports, equal to about 200,000 barrels a day. Russian imports account for 8 percent of total UK oil demand.