SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices edged up on Wednesday after a drop in U.S. crude inventories reinforced OPEC’s robust demand outlook.
Brent crude futures rose 54 cents to $69.09 a barrel at 0746, adding to a 23-cent gain on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 53 cents to $65.81 per barrel, adding to a 36-cent rise.
Reuters cited market sources as saying that date from the American Petroleum Institute industry group showed U.S. crude oil stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week to May 7.
The drawdown came before the Colonial Pipeline was hit by a cyberattack last Friday which forced the pipeline, which transports more than 2.5 million barrels a day of fuel, to shut down.
The market also remained on edge, as gasoline stations from Florida to Virginia began running out of fuel on Tuesday as drivers rushed to top up their tanks and pump prices rocketed, according to Reuters.
“While a prolonged outage would be supportive for refined product prices, it could start to weigh on crude oil prices, if refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast are forced to reduce run rates due to a build-up of refined product inventories in PADD3,” Reuters quoted ING analysts as saying.
Oil prices were also supported by the latest outlook from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which stuck to a forecast for a strong recovery in world oil demand in 2021 with growth in China and the United States outweighing the impact of the coronavirus crisis in India.
OPEC said it expects demand to rise by 5.95 million bpd this year, unchanged from its forecast last month. However, it cut its demand outlook for the second quarter by 300,000 bpd due to soaring COVID-19 infections in India.
