WTI crude News

It was the first time since January 2014 that the two crude oil benchmarks opened the year above $60 per barrel, buoyed by large anti-government rallies in Iran and ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and Russia.

Oil also gained support from expectations the latest reports on US inventories will show a further tightening of supplies.

Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday showed that US crude oil inventories fell by 5.6 million barrels in the week to December 1, to 448.1 million barrels, putting stocks below seasonal levels in 2015 and 2016.

An OPEC-led producer group last week extended a supply-cutting deal through 2018, but the resulting support for prices could bolster US output which climbed to nearly 9.5 million barrels per day in September.

US crude production has risen by 15 percent since mid-2016 to 9.66 million barrels per day, not far from top producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, and increasing drilling activity for new production means output is expected to grow further.

 Oil has been under pressure for the last two weeks since peaking in early November.

Prices remained under pressure from this week's International Energy Agency (IEA) outlook for slower growth in global crude demand.

Middle East tensions have supported the market, despite concerns that output could rise further.

China's October oil imports fell sharply from a near record-high of about 9 million barrels per day in September to just 7.3 million barrels per day in October, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday.

US crude inventories fell by 7.1 million barrels in the week to Oct 13 to 461.4 million barrels, the American Petroleum Institute (API) said late on Tuesday.

Oil prices held near their highest levels in more than two weeks after Iraqi government forces captured the major Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk in a response to a Kurdish independence referendum, raising worries about oil supply.

The market was still under pressure, though, from a bearish outlook by the International Energy Agency, which lowered its forecast for oil demand for 2018.

Traders said they would look to the US fuel inventory data on Wednesday and Thursday for indicators on price direction.

Traders said that oil prices were supported as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said oil markets were rebalancing fast after years of oversupply.

The declines came after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said late on Wednesday that US crude oil exports jumped to 1.98 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, surpassing the 1.5 million bpd record set the previous week.

Traders said the drops came over concerns that a third-quarter market rally that had lifted Brent to mid-2015 highs by late September had been overdone.

Oil traders said the crude falls came amid a selloff across many other markets, including US and Asian stocks, where investors voted with their feet amid growing scepticism US President Donald Trump, embroiled in controversy, would achieve his economic agenda.

Oil prices were not far off six-month lows, held down by an ongoing supply overhang that persists despite an OPEC-led effort to cut production and prop up crude markets.

Oil prices jumped for a third day on Thursday to their highest in three weeks after Kuwait gave its backing for an extension of OPEC production cuts in an attempt to reduce global oversupply.

Benchmark Brent crude jumped more than 2 percent to a high of $58.37, up $1.55 a barrel and its highest since July 2015.