Oil Closes at Highest Level in a Month

Oil prices continued to rise in Wednesday, supported by the improved outlook demand from the International Energy Agency (IEA), which raised expectations for global demand for crude this year by 230,000.

The IEA expects a 5.7 million-barrel a day growth in the global demand for oil in 2021 compared with last year’s 96.7 million barrels per day. The report followed a similar move by OPEC yesterday.

Meanwhile, crude inventories in the United States declined for the third consecutive week, falling by 5.9 million barrels in the week ended on April 9, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) weekly report.

Brent crude futures for June delivery rose by $2.91, or 4.6%, to finish at $66.58 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for May delivery gained $2.97, or 4.9%, to close at $63.15 per barrel.

This marker the highest closing level for the global and U.S. benchmark crude since March 17.