Oil prices are rising amid falling US inventories

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after data showed a decline in US oil and fuel stockpiles, along with increasing speculation of new production cuts by the OPEC + alliance, after a warning from the Saudi Energy Minister to speculators.

Brent crude futures rose 88 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $77.72 a barrel by 0837 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 98 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $73.89 a barrel.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said he would keep short sellers, who bet that prices will fall, “in pain” and called on them to “be careful”.

Some investors took this as a sign that the OPEC + alliance, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, may discuss further production cuts at a meeting scheduled for June 4.

The rise in oil prices was also driven by data showing a sharp decline in US crude oil and fuel inventories.

And market sources quoted the American Petroleum Institute as saying that crude stocks fell by about 6.8 million barrels in the week ending on May 19, and gasoline stocks fell by about 6.4 million barrels.

If this is confirmed in data released by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, it would mean that gasoline stocks in the United States fell for the third week in a row to their lowest levels for this period of the year since 2014.