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Oil prices rose thanks to expectations of a global economic recovery and a sharp decline in US gasoline inventories, but gains remained limited due to a large increase in crude oil inventories following the Texas storm.
Brent crude rose to nearly $68 per barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate crude closed at $64.44 a barrel, up 43 cents, or 0.7 percent.
US gasoline stocks fell by 11.9 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 5.5 million barrels, while analysts in a Reuters poll expected a decline of 3.5 million barrels for each.
But crude oil inventories jumped by 13.8 million barrels last week, far exceeding expectations for an increase of 816 thousand barrels, as the repercussions of last mid-February storm continued to affect the oil sector in the United States, which disrupted refining capacity and stopped production in Texas.
“Production has returned to pre-storm levels, but refining capacity is struggling to recover,” said Matt Smith, director of commodities research at Clipper Data.
Oil prices fell yesterday, Wednesday, amid a wave of selling, as investors sold crude oil to take profits, as “Brent” crude fell by 0.9 percent to $66.89 per barrel, by 07:21 GMT, while the price of American “West Texas Intermediate” crude reached 63.47. Dollar per barrel, down by 0.8 percent.
Source: Reuters