Oil Rises With The Decline in US Stocks And New Cases of Covid in China

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, January 27, after data for the sector showed that US crude inventories fell unexpectedly last week, and China, the second-largest consumer of oil in the world, recorded the lowest daily level of increase in cases of Covid-19 in more than two weeks.

Brent crude futures rose 39 cents, or 0.7%, to $ 56.30 a barrel, reinforcing limited gains made on Tuesday.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 37 cents, or 0.7%, to $ 52.98 a barrel, recovering from losses incurred on Tuesday.

The American Petroleum Institute said that crude inventories in the United States, the world’s largest consumer of oil, fell by 5.3 million barrels in the week ending January 22, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for an increase of 430,000 barrels. But the data revealed that gasoline inventories rose 3.1 million barrels, much more than expected.

The data of the American Petroleum Institute shows that stocks of distillates, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by 1.4 million barrels compared to forecast of a decrease of 361 thousand barrels, and that the average operation of the refineries decreased by 76 thousand barrels per day.