Brent oil prices rose on Wednesday, hovering around a 26-month high hit in the previous session, after US data showed an unexpected drop in crude stocks.
Brent crude for November delivery LCOc1 was up 20 cents, or 0.34 per cent, at $58.64 a barrel, as of 0418 GMT. It settled down 1 per cent on Tuesday, after earlier hitting $59.49, its highest since July 2015 and more than 34 per cent above a 2017 low.
US crude for November delivery CLc1 rose 28 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $52.16, having settled down 0.7 per cent after hitting a five-month high of $52.43 in the previous session.
Oil prices have been supported by output curbs of 1.8 million barrels per day by the OPEC, and cuts by other major producers, although US crude has lagged behind Brent amid concerns that US production growth could stoke oversupply.
US crude stocks fell by 761,000 barrels last week as refineries boosted production, while gasoline inventories increased and distillate stocks fell, data from industry group American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday, in contrast with market expectations.
Refinery crude runs rose by 1.3 million barrels per day, API data showed.
US crude inventories were seen rising for a fourth straight week, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.
Crude oil production in Texas, one of the biggest producers of shale oil in the United States, fell less than 1.0 per cent in July compared with a year ago, the state’s energy regulator said on Tuesday.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release stocks data later in the day.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday repeated a threat to cut off the pipeline that carries 500,000-600,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from northern Iraq to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
