Oil prices climb after positive U.S. inventory data

2021-06-24 22:06:54 GMT2021-06-25 06:06:54(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

NEW YORK, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rose on Thursday as traders continued to sift through the latest U.S. fuel inventory data.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery added 22 cents to settle at 73.30 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery increased 37 cents to close at 75.56 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Prices garnered some support from a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles.

U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 7.6 million barrels during the week ending June 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts had expected the EIA publications to show a drop of 6.3 million barrels in U.S. crude supplies.

The EIA report also showed an unexpected reduction in gasoline stocks of 2.9 million barrels during the period.

Traders awaited a key meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, as the group is slated to meet on July 1 to review production levels.

"Given the good sentiment and robust demand, OPEC+ is likely to find it easy next week to announce a further increase in production, at least for August, without jeopardising the upswing enjoyed by the oil price," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Thursday.

"We believe that the currently positive general tenor on the oil market is the main factor that will drive prices further up," he said. Enditem

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