U.S. crude oil inventories decreased during the week ending Oct. 18, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the Weekly Petroleum Status Report, U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 1.7 million barrels from the previous week. Analysts had expected an increase of 2.2 million barrels.
Oil prices were also supported by the news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group also know as OPEC+, are mulling to implement bigger production cuts when they next meet in December in a bid to counter the weaker growth in demand.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for December delivery gained 1.49 U.S. dollars to settle at 55.97 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery rose 1.47 dollars to close at 61.17 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
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