By JACOB GRONHOLT-PEDERSEN Crude-oil futures extended losses in Asian trading Thursday, after disappointing Chinese manufacturing activity raised concerns about demand and U.S. crude output rose to its highest level in over two decades. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in September traded at $104.98 a barrel at 0721 GMT, down $0.41 in the Globex electronic session. September Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.26 to $106.93 a barrel. Nymex crude had gained as much as 13% this month, but Wednesday, both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude posted their sharpest declines in five weeks as investors cashed in on bullish bets. Crude-oil production in the U.S. continued to rise in the past week to 7.56 million barrels a day--the highest since 1990. At the same time, official data showed crude inventories in the world's biggest oil consumer fell for a fourth straight week as refinery utilization rates remained high. Brent was impacted by concerns over oil demand in China after manufacturing activity continued to disappoint in July. Nymex's discount to Brent deepened on Thursday, after the U.S. benchmark contract last week traded at a premium to Brent for the first time since 2010. At 0721 GMT, the spread was at $1.95 a barrel. New pipelines and railroads in the U.S. have helped ease bottlenecks in recent months that had trapped new oil production in the Midwest. Broader investor sentiment was weaker Thursday, with Asian shares edging lower following a negative lead from Wall Street and as markets digested earnings news. Investors will look for U.S. weekly jobless claims data due later in the global trading day. Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for August--the benchmark gasoline contract--fell 274 points to $3.0274 a gallon, while August heating oil traded at $3.0210, 260 points lower. ICE gasoil for August changed hands at $910.50 a metric ton, down $3.75 from Wednesday's settlement.

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