Oil rises in price after US Energy Department statistics release

Global oil prices continue to rise for the second day in a row after the US Department of Energy released data on the decline in gasoline stocks in the country over the past week, according to trading data, Report informs referring to Prime agency.

As of 8:43 (GMT+4), the price of May futures for North Sea Brent oil blend grew by 0.93 percent - to $68.53, April futures for WTI oil grew 0.92 percent, to $65.03 per barrel.

Traders continue to assess the statistics of the US Department of Energy on oil and petroleum product reserves, as well as the level of production in the country over the past week. Thus, commercial stocks for the week through March 5 increased by 13.8 million barrels, to a maximum since mid-December 2020. Oil production rose to 10.9 million barrels per day from the previous week’s level of 10 million barrels.

At the same time, gasoline stocks fell by 11.9 million barrels, although a decline by only 3.5 million barrels was expected. Distillate stocks decreased by 5.5 million barrels instead of 3.5 million barrels.

‘Price action has consolidated over the last few sessions,’ said Jeffrey Halley, an analyst at Oanda Asia Pacific. ‘The physical market is running a deficit at the moment and as long as that remains, any pullback in oil will be limited.’