Oil prices rise on supply woes
Shafaq News / Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday, paring losses from the previous session, as concern over tight supplies following reports of lower inventories in the United States offset fears of lower demand from top oil importer China.
Brent crude futures rose 73 cents, or 0.8%, to $90.76 a barrel by 0100 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $83.95 a barrel, up $1.13, or 1.4%. WTI's front-month contract expires on Thursday.
Brent and WTI touched two-week lows and tumbled 1.7% and 3.1%, respectively, in the previous session on reports of U.S. President Joe Biden's plans to release more barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and worries about weaker Chinese fuel demand.
U.S. crude oil stocks fell by about 1.3 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 14, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.
U.S. crude inventories were expected to have increased for a second consecutive week, rising by 1.4 million barrels in the week to Oct. 14, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, is due at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
Oil prices were also buoyed by better risk sentiment which was lifted by upbeat U.S. corporate earnings and a pause in the surge in bond yields, CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said.
(Reuters)
