Oil rises on US fuel demand, extends rally | Reuters

Oil rises on US fuel demand, extends rally | Reuters

Oil prices rose about 1% on Wednesday, extending gains for a third session, after U.S. government data showed that fuel demand climbed to its highest since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brent crude rose 81 cents, or 1.1%, to $71.86 a barrel by 1:26 p.m. EDT (1726 GMT). U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 45 cents, or 0.7%, to $67.99 a barrel.

The four-week average for U.S. total product supplied, a proxy for fuel demand, soared to nearly 21 million barrels per day, its highest since March 2020, when governments first began to widely impose pandemic-related restrictions, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 3 million barrels in the last week to 432.6 million barrels, the EIA said, about 1% higher than during the same time in 2019, before the pandemic. Refiners have ramped up production to 92.4% of operable capacity, the highest since late June.