Oil settles higher on stronger demand outlook as U.S inventories fall | Reuters
Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as a drop in U.S. crude stockpiles reinforced expectations of improving demand ahead of the peak summer driving season, offsetting worries that a possible return of Iranian supply would cause a glut.
Brent settled up 16 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.87 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 14 cents, or 0.2%, at $66.21 a barrel.
Both benchmarks pared losses after government data showed U.S. crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub fell last week to the lowest since March 2020. Refiners ramped up utilization rates to pre-pandemic levels.
Gasoline product supplied rose to 9.5 million barrels per day, a proxy for demand, while distillate demand was also higher. Gasoline consumption generally rises beginning around U.S. Memorial Day, which is May 31 this year, when people take to the roads.
Prices found some support from lifting of coronavirus curbs.
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