LONDON: Brent oil rose to $106 a barrel on Wednesday, supported by a fall in U.S. oil product inventories and worries about prolonged weakness in supply from Libya as the peak northern hemisphere winter heating season looms.
Brent crude gained 74 cents to $106.07 a barrel by 1217 GMT, after settling 90 cents lower at a four-month low in the previous session. U.S. oil rose 70 cents to $94.07, after ending $1.25 down at its lowest in five months.
Data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed that gasoline stocks fell 4.3 million barrels, far below analysts' expectations of a 338,000-barrel draw.
Distillate fuel stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 2.73 million barrels compared with expectations of a 1.3 million-barrel decline.
However analysts said the overall picture was still negative for oil.
"I would attribute (the market's rise) to a countermove after heavy losses in the previous day," said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Overall crude inventories rose by 871,000 barrels in the week to Nov. 1 to 382 million barrels, posting a seventh straight weekly increase.
"The general picture is still bearish," Fritsch said. "Note that API crude stocks rose despite sharply higher refinery utilisation."
Investors are now waiting for stockpile data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) for clarity on demand at 1530 GMT.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.