Oil rising amid decline in US crude inventories

Global oil prices rose on February 2. This is how markets reacted to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) on the decline in US oil inventories, Report informs referring to the auction data.

The price of April futures for Brent crude rose by 0.34% to $89.46 per barrel, while March futures for WTI increased by 0.31% to $88.47 per barrel.

US commercial oil inventories fell by 1.6 million barrels in the week ended January 28, according to API data released on February 2 night.

The US Department of Energy is expected to publish the statistics on commercial crude inventories on February 2 evening. Analysts expect the department to report a 1.5-million-barrel increase in inventories.

Traders also expect news from the OPEC+ meeting slated for February 2, at which a decision will be made on the alliance’s production parameters for March. Markets believe that OPEC+ will continue to increase its total production monthly by the planned 400,000 barrels per day.

The weakening dollar also has a positive effect on oil prices. The dollar index (the exchange rate against a basket of currencies of six countries - the main trading partners of the US) fell by 0.13%, to 96.26 points. The dollar depreciation makes oil more accessible for purchase in a different currency.