Oil rose on Wednesday as US lawmakers moved closer to approving President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid bill without Republican support, and amid expectations that global oil stocks will fall back to more normal levels this year.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading up 0.4 percent at $57.67 per barrel, at 7 a.m. Riyadh time.
WTI crude also rose 0.4 percent to $54.95 a barrel.
The market was buoyed by the latest OPEC+ assessment that oil stockpiles will decline to below a five-year average by June, Reuters reported citing analysts. This showed the producers’ output cuts were succeeding in bringing the market back into balance.
Meanwhile, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed that US crude oil inventories fell by 4.3 million barrels in the week to Jan. 29, 2021.
