SINGAPORE, May 30 Reuters Oil prices eased on Thursday after resilient U.S. economic activity pointed to borrowing costs staying higher for longer in a potential blow to demand.

Ahead of U.S. crude oil stockpiles data due later in the day, Brent futures dipped 26 cents or 0.3 to 83.34 a barrel as of 0630 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate WTI crude fell 23 cents or 0.3 to 79.00.

Both benchmarks are headed for monthly losses, with Brent futures on track for a decline of more than 5 from last month, while WTI was poised for a slide of over 3.

The broader riskoff environment has translated to some downward pressures on oil prices, which overrides the largerthanexpected drawdown in U.S. crude inventories from the recent API data, said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.

U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week while distillates rose, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Wednesday.

The API figures showed crude stocks were down by 6.49 million barrels in the week ended May 24, the sources said, with gasoline inventories down by 452,000 barrels, and distillates up by 2.045 million barrels.

Analysts had projected U.S. energy firms would pull 1.9 million barrels of crude out of storage while stocking 0.4 million barrels of distillates and 1 million barrels of gasoline.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA is due later on Thursday.

Rising global oil inventories through April due to soft fuel…