Azeri Light crude rises again

Azeri LT CIF crude oil, exported from Azerbaijan to the world markets, increased $ 0.53 (+0.95%), settling at $ 56.36 per barrel, Report informs.

The lowest price for Azeri Light was recorded on April 21, 2020 ($ 15.81), and the all-time high of $149.66 was fixed in July 2008.

On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a draw in crude oil inventories of 5.272 million barrels for the week ending January 22.

Analysts had predicted an inventory smaller draw of 430,000 barrels for the week.

The API reported a build in oil inventories of 2.562-million barrels in the previous week, after analysts had predicted a draw of 1.167 million barrels.

Oil prices were trading down on Tuesday ahead of the data release. China lockdowns, the IEA's grim outlook on oil demand, a slow global rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, and a potential delay or hiccup in the next round of stimulus payments that the new administration said would be pushed through right away is dragging on prices.

A half-hour before Tuesday's data release, WTI had fallen by $0.27 on the day (-0.51%) to $52.50, down $0.80 since last Wednesday.

The Brent crude benchmark had fallen on the day $0.06 (-0.11%) to $55.82—down $0.70 on the week.