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* Lower than hoped U.S. stimulus weighs on demand recovery
hopes
* Decline in U.S. crude oil inventories supports prices
* Brent and WTI contracts down about 20% this year
(Releads, updates prices, adds comment)
By Shadia Nasralla and Laura Sanicola
LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday on
the back of a weaker dollar, a decline in U.S. inventories and
Britain's approval of a second coronavirus vaccine, but both
benchmark contracts remained on track for a decline of about 20%
for the year.
Brent crude futures gained 15 cents to $51.25 a
barrel by 1453 GMT, having started the year above $66.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude had added 11
cents to trade at $48.11, down from about $62 at the start of
2020.
Both contracts turned negative briefly in early U.S. trading
as a bigger fiscal aid package in the United States looked
increasingly unlikely, dampening hopes for a swifter recovery of
oil demand that has been hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the supply front, a Jan. 4 meeting of the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including
Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is set to boost output by
500,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January.
Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at investment bank
Mizuho, said that bearish sentiment is being created by OPEC's
preparations to pump more oil and the increasingly unlikely
prospect of Americans receiving $2,000 stimulus cheques.
Oil prices found some support on Wednesday from the U.S.
dollar hitting its lowest against a basket of currencies
since 2018, making oil cheaper for holders of other currencies.
Raising hopes of a faster normalisation of travel and work,
Britain on Wednesday became the first country to approve a
coronavirus vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and
AstraZeneca.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 4.8 million barrels last
week to about 492.9 million barrels, data from API showed,
exceeding expectations of a fall of 2.6 million barrels in a
Reuters poll of analysts.
(Additional reporting by Naveen Thukral
Editing by Jason Neely and David Goodman
)
