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Oil prices hit nine-month high after U.S. crude stock draw

Published 12/17/2020, 09:37 AM
Updated 12/17/2020, 09:40 AM
© Reuters.
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* Washington moves toward more pandemic relief spending
* U.S. crude stockpiles fall, fuel inventories up -EIA
* U.S. vaccine campaign grows

By Jessica Jaganathan
SINGAPORE, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices hit a nine-month
high early on Thursday after U.S. government data showed that
crude stockpiles fell last week and on optimism over a
coronavirus relief package in the United States.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose by 28 cents, or 0.6%, to
$51.36 a barrel at 0116 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate
(WTI) crude CLc1 futures rose by 27 cents, or 0.6%, to $48.09
a barrel. Both benchmarks hit their highest since early March.
U.S. crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell by 3.1 million
barrels in the week to Dec. 11, the Energy Information
Administration said. This was more than analysts' expectations
of a 1.9-million-barrel drop, after stockpiles surged in last
week's data. EIA/S
"U.S. production also fell... the first time since late
October," ANZ analysts said in a note on Thursday.
Refinery crude runs fell by 253,000 barrels per day in the
past week, EIA said. Refinery utilization rates fell by 0.8
percentage point in the week.
Also boosting oil prices, the Fed said on Wednesday it would
stick with its policy of low interest rates while legislators
moved closer to agreeing on an additional $900 billion of
COVID-19 aid, including $600 to $700 stimulus checks and
extended unemployment benefits. The United States on Thursday also expanded its campaign to
deliver COVID-19 vaccine shots into the arms of doctors and
nurses on the frontlines of a pandemic that has killed more than
2,500 Americans a day, which also supported oil prices.

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