Oil Prices Rise on US Oil Inventories

• Oil Prices Rise on US Oil Inventories

US crude oil inventories declined by 11.1 million barrels last week, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Experts had predicted a 2.1 million barrel decline before the unofficial data was released.

The unexpected decline lifted global oil prices as it was the largest draw since June 2019.

Brent crude, against which Nigerian Oil is priced, gained 1.53 percent to $60.14 per barrel, while the US WTI rose by 2.48 percent to $55.67 a barrel.

While global uncertainty remains, prices surged despite the possibility of Iran and the US reaching an agreement after almost three years of stand-off. Iran coming into the market means additional crude oil.

However, the possibility of that happening anytime soon is far from reality. Again, the inability of the US to reach an agreement with China in spite of all the meetings between the two nations is also weighing on oil outlook.

Meanwhile, Eni-operated NAOC announced it had discovered a large deposit of hydrocarbon in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.

According to the Italian company, the discovery is capable of increasing Nigeria’s oil production to 4 million per day.

The official US oil inventory number is due later today.