Oil rises to 1-week high ahead of EIA weekly report

Oil extended gains in the US market today, for the fourth straight day, to the highest level in a week, after preliminary data showed unexpected drop in US oil inventories, ahead of the official data release by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

As of 13:15 GMT, WTI rose to $56.77 a barrel from the opening of $56.10, with a high of $56.91 (highest in a week), and a low of $56.08.

WTI rose by 0.1% yesterday, its third daily gain, as the concerns about the US-China trade war eased.

The American Petroleum Institute showed yesterday in preliminary data that the US oil inventories fell by 3.5 million barrels during the week ending in August 16th, lower than forecasts of 1.9 million.

This drop is the 9th weekly drop in two and a half months, which is a sign of high demand in the United States.

While the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release today the official data on inventories and production levels in its weekly report, with forecasts for inventories to decline by 1.4 million barrels, while in last week's report the production levels remained unchanged, with a total of 12.3 million barrels per day, near its all-time record of 12.4 million.