Wti above 702 Sep 2021 19:09
Oil prices rose by more than 2 percent early on Thursday, with WTI Crude trading above $70 a barrel for the first time in a month, driven by bullish U.S. inventory and demand data and a weaker dollar.
As of 11:13 a.m. EDT on Thursday, the front-month WTI Crude contract was up by 2.71% at $70.44, trading above the $70 a barrel mark for the first time since August 3. Brent Crude had risen by 2.43% at $73.30.
Oil prices traded higher on Thursday, as a weakening U.S. dollar made crude buying cheaper for the holder of other currencies. It was not only the weaker greenback that pushed oil higher.
The EIA reported on Wednesday a major crude draw in U.S. inventories and a record implied American fuel demand. The Energy Information Administration reported inventories had declined by 7.2 million barrels in the week to August 27. This compared with a crude oil inventory draw of 3 million barrels estimated by the EIA for the previous week and analyst expectations for a draw of 2.83 million barrels.
“Implied demand is reported to have hit a record high of 22.8MMbbls/d over the week, eclipsing the previous record of 22.4MMbbls/d seen in 2018. This stronger implied demand number likely reflects some downstream inventory build ahead of Hurricane Ida,” ING strategists Warren Patterson and Wenyu Yao said early on Thursday.