Oil rose amid a decline in US crude stocks

Oil prices rose markedly, returning to positive territory, aided by the official statistics on petroleum products in the US.. Support for oil was also a weakening US currency.

US Department of Energy reported that in the week from 14 to 21 October crude oil inventories fell by 553,000 barrels, while expected to grow by 1 mln barrels. Thus, oil reserves have shown reductions in seven of the last eight weeks. Oil reserves in Cushing terminal fell by 1.3 million barrels to 58.4 million barrels. Gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels to 226 million barrels. Analysts had expected a decline of only 600,000 barrels. Distillate stocks fell 3.4 million barrels to 152.4 million barrels, while analysts had expected a decline of 900,000 barrels. The utilization of refining capacity increased by 0.6% to 85.6%. Analysts suggested that the figure will rise to 0.7%. Meanwhile, oil production in the US rose to 8.504 million barrels per day versus 8.464 million barrels per day in the previous week.

"Traders were forced to close some short positions, however, do not expect a strong rise in prices. Investors want to understand whether the stock drop is only a one-off or it indicates improvement in the demand pattern..", - Gene McGillian said Tradition Energy.

The cost of the December futures on US light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose to 49.72 dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

December futures price for Brent crude rose to 50.40 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.