Oil keeps gains after US inventories data

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, following positive news about Covid-19 vaccines, after the US crude inventories data.

The US Energy Information Administration reported today that crude inventories rose 800,000 barrels to 489.5 million barrels during the past week, missing forecasts of a rise by 100,000 barrels.

While the American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories rose 4.2 million barrels during the same period.

The American company Pfizer and the German firm BioNTech announced on Wednesday that the recent data from the final phase of the clinical trials on their Covid-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective.

As of 18:27 GMT, WTI crude December futures rose 1.7% to $42.1 a barrel, after hitting a high of $42.4 and a low of $41.08.

Brent January futures rose 2% to $44.6 a barrel, after hitting a high of $44.8 and a low of $43.4.