Summary
- Brent, WTI up after 2% drops in prior session
- US crude stocks fall, but gasoline and distillate increase
- Equities rally, helping oil, but strong dollar weighs
(Reuters) – Oil prices edged up on Thursday after falling in the previous session, boosted by a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles and a general risk-asset market rally.
Brent crude futures were up 57 cents, or 0.9%, at $64.08 a barrel at 1101 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were 51 cents, or 0.9%, higher at $59.95.
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Both benchmarks rebounded after falling around 2% in the previous session after reports indicated the U.S. was renewing its push to end the Russia-Ukraine war and has drafted a framework for it, which could mean more Russian barrels being released into the market.
World stock markets, which often move in tandem with oil prices, rallied on Thursday as investors cheered AI chip giant Nvidia’s forecast-topping earnings.
Meanwhile, a deadline from U.S. sanctions on trading with Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil is running out on Friday, while Lukoil and any suitors for its assets have until December 13 to agree deals involving its sprawling international portfolio.
Lending support to oil prices from the demand side was a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles, which reflected rising refining runs amid good margins in the world’s biggest oil consumer, and export demand for U.S. crude.
Crude inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels to 424.2 million in the week ended November 14, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 603,000-barrel draw.
That said, analysts also pointed out that gasoline and distillate stockpiles in the U.S. built for the first time in over a month, a sign of slowing consumption.
Gains were capped by persisting oil market oversupply fears and the U.S. dollar hovering near a six-month high, which makes dollar-denominated commodities such as oil more expensive.
Additional reporting by Katya Golubkova in Tokyo and Siyi Liu in Singapore, editing by Ed Osmond
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