Oil rises near 6-week high after US inventories drop

Oil prices rose on Thursday, resuming gains after taking a pause yesterday, rising again near a 6-week high, following the the US crude inventories drop to nearly 3-month low.

US crude rose 1.2% to $78.14 a barrel, after opening at $77.20, and hit a low at $76.75, and Brent crude rose 1.1% to $81.0 a barrel, after opening at $80.10, and hit a low at $79.64.

The US crude closed flat yesterday, after hitting a six-week high at $78.56, and Brent crude fell 0.1%, after hitting the highest since November 26 at $81.48.

The Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed yesterday that US monetary policymakers may raise interest rates faster than expected, which affects risk assets such as oil.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that the US crude inventories fell 2.1 million barrels during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 3.5 million barrels.

According to the data, the total US commercial stocks fell to 418 million barrels, the lowest level since the week ending on September 17.

While the US held last week, with the total at 11.8 million barrels per day, which is the highest level since May 2020.