New York West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures closed higher on Thursday (January 5), supported by declines in US refinery and gasoline inventories last week.
The WTI Crude Oil contract is delivered in February. It rose 83 cents, or 1.14%, to $73.67 a barrel.
The contract for Brent crude oil (BRENT) is delivered in March. It rose 85 cents, or 1.09%, to $78.69 a barrel.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that inventories of distillates Petroleum, which includes heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 1.4 million barrels last week. That was just 396,000 barrels more than analysts expected.
Gasoline inventories fell by 300,000 barrels, versus analyst expectations for a decline of 1.6 million barrels, and crude inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels, but fell by 4.5 million barrels. barrels than expected by analysts.
At the same time, oil prices were positive on news that Colonial Pipeline’s pipeline in the US was shut down for maintenance. It is expected to return to open the pipeline on January 7.
Also, the market was driven by investors placing speculative orders on the market. Oil prices plunged more than 9% in Tuesday and Wednesday trading, the biggest two-day drop since 1991.
However, the trading atmosphere was depressed during the day. Why investors are still worried about the contraction in the US manufacturing sector. And the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in China will affect oil demand.
The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its manufacturing index fell to 48.4 in December, down from 49.0 in November. The index is below 50, indicating that the US manufacturing sector is in contraction. It was the second consecutive month of contraction as higher interest rates had curbed market demand.
