CORRECTED-Oil prices hit 13-mth highs on tighter supplies, Fed assurance on low rates

(Corrects headline and lead paragraph to 13-month highs, not 11
months)
By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose for a fourth
straight session on Thursday to the highest levels in more than
13 months, underpinned by monetary easing policies and lower
crude production in the United States.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 for April gained 19 cents, 0.3%,
to $67.23 a barrel by 0400 GMT, while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate crude CLc1 for April was at $63.30 a barrel, up 8
cents, 0.1%.
Both contracts touched their highest since January 2020
earlier in the session with Brent at $67.44 and WTI at $63.67.
An assurance from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest
rates would stay low for a while boosted investors' risk
appetite and global financial markets. "Comments from Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell, earlier in the
week relating to the need for monetary policy to remain
accommodative have probably helped, but sentiment in the oil
market has also become more bullish, with expectations for a
tightening oil balance," ING analysts said in a note.
A rare winter storm in Texas has caused U.S. crude
production to drop by more than 10%, or 1 million barrels per
day (bpd) last week, the Energy Information Administration said.
EIA/S
Fuel supplies in the world's largest oil consumer could also
tighten as its refinery crude inputs had dropped to the lowest
since September 2008.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
their allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, is due to
meet on March 4.
The group will discuss a modest easing of oil supply curbs
from April given a recovery in prices, OPEC+ sources said,
although some suggest holding steady for now given the risk of
new setbacks in the battle against the pandemic. Extra voluntary cuts by Saudi Arabia in February and March
have tightened global supplies and supported prices.