Oil rose on Wednesday after plunging more than 2% in the previous session as reports of falling U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories refocused investors on robust demand in the world’s top oil consumer.
Brent crude climbed by 30 cents, or 0.4%, to $81.07 a barrel by 0358 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 39 cents, or 0.5%, to $77.46 a barrel. U.S. crude oil stocks fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ended April 21, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute (API) figures on Tuesday.
Analysts had expected crude inventories to fall by about 1.5 million barrels. Gasoline inventories fell 1.9 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels, the sources said the API reported. Official stockpiles data from the U.S. government is due on Wednesday.
Oil prices dived more than 2% on Tuesday, returning to the near the same level before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producer allies such as Russia, known as OPEC+, announced an additional output reduction in early April. – -REUTERS
