NEW DELHI: The price of key U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate shot up about 30% on news reports that suggest the United States would not fill its storage as quickly as previously anticipated, according to Oil Price.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery surged 29%, or $3.59, to trade at $15.96 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude traded 10.9% higher at $22.69, CNBC reported. Oil prices got a boost on a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. inventories.
According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, crude stockpiles rose by 9 million barrels for the week ending April 24. This was lower than the 11.7-million-barrel build analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting, CNBC reported.
The data also showed that U.S. production fell by 100,000 barrels per day last week to 12.1 million bpd. This is 1 million bpd below the record 13.1 million bpd production set during the week ending March 13.
“Oil prices rose on Wednesday morning as traders cling to potentially positive indications that the demand-supply gap may somewhat become smaller soon,” Rystad Energy’s global head of oil markets Bjornar Tonhaugen told CNBC.
