Oil prices nudge higher, attempting to shake off rise in U.S. crude inventories

U.S. oil futures nudged higher early Thursday, shaking off weakness attributed to data a day earlier that showed a further rise in U.S. crude inventories.

Price moves

West Texas Intermediate crude
CL00,
-0.19%
for April delivery
CL.1,
-0.19%
CLJ24,
-0.19%
rose 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $78.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
April Brent crude
BRNJ24,
-0.22%,
the global benchmark, was up 2 cents at $83.70 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. May Brent
BRN00,
-0.44%
BRNK24,
-0.44%,
the most actively traded contract, was up 9 cents, or 0.1%, at $82.24 a barrel.

Market drivers

The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that domestic commercial-crude inventories rose by 4.2 million to 447.3 million barrels for the week ending Feb. 23. The EIA has now reported gains in crude supply for five weeks in a row.

The report also showed weekly supply declines of 2.8 million barrels for gasoline and 500,000 barrels for distillates.

The data also showed a continued rebound in gasoline supplied, a key measure of implied consumer demand, noted analysts at Sevens Report Research. It hit its second highest level since mid-December at just shy of 8.5 million barrels a day.

“A better consumer demand outlook is supportive of prices near term. Domestic production, meanwhile, has been holding steady at a record
13.3 million barrels/day since late January. Oil production not rising is not bearish and is easing a previous headwind on the market, setting futures up for more upside,” they wrote.

Read the full article here