Oil prices continued to rise Thursday as U.S. crude stockpiles decreased. The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies Thursday.
Weaker dollar made the dollar-priced crude less expensive and more attractive for buyers holding other currencies. U.S. crude supplies of last week lost 5.9 million barrels to 484.8 million barrels, 97.6 million barrels more than one year before, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA)'s Wednesday weekly report.
U.S. crude production added 3,000 to 9.179 million barrels a day last week, according to EIA's report. Data from oil service company Baker Hughes released Wednesday showed that the number of active oil rigs in the U.S. fell by three to 538 of this week.
The data also helped boost the market as the number of U.S. oil rigs is viewed as a proxy for activity in the oil industry.
The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery moved up 60 cents to settle at 38.1 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for February delivery increased 53 cents to close at 37.89 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Latest comments