Oil prices dipped on Thursday as a surge of coronavirus infections around the globe raised fears a rebound in fuel demand would stutter just as major oil producers are set to raise output in August. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $41.21 a barrel at, while Brent crude futures lost 7 cents, also 0.2%, to $43.68 a barrel. Both benchmark contracts hovered around unchanged levels after having jumped on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a sharp, unexpected 10.6 million barrel drop in crude stockpiles last week. However, at the same time U.S. gasoline and distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, both rose against expectations for inventories to fall - highlighting the patchy nature of the recovery in fuel demand. Analysts said the mixed price moves on Thursday were due to demand concerns with COVID-19 infections increasing and raising the prospects for lockdowns to be reimposed. Deaths from COVID-19 topped 150,000 in the United States on Wednesday, while Brazil, with the world's second-worst outbreak, set new daily records of confirmed cases and deaths. New infections in Australia hit a record on Thursday.