Oil Settles Higher on Rising Gasoline Demand

Oil prices kept its movement within a limited range since the beginning of the week but closed higher on Wednesday.

The global benchmark Brent crude futures rose by 21 cents and settled at $43.29 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures closed higher by 28 cents at $40.90 a barrel.

Earlier today, data by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed that US oil inventories increased by 5.7 million barrels last week.

However, the rise in oil prices today was mostly driven by an improvement in the demand for gasoline in the US, after gasoline inventories declined by 4.8 million barrels, as demand grew to around 8.8 million barrels per day.