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Oil prices rose slightly to reach their highest levels since April on Thursday as declining inventories and production cuts helped boost prices amid the annual summer surge in demand.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery
CLQ24,
+0.39% CL00,
-0.03%
gained 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $75.89 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
September Brent crude
BRN00,
+0.12% BRNU23,
+0.12%
gained 23 cents, or 0.3%, at $80.32 per barrel on ICE Futures Europe. -
August gasoline
RBQ23,
-0.24%
gained 0.2% to $2.67 a gallon, while August heating oil rose 0.1% to $2.6033 per gallon. -
August natural gas
RBQ23,
-0.24%
fell 0.2% to $2.59 per million British thermal units.
Market drivers
Oil prices have risen this week as a smaller-than-expected increase in U.S. consumer prices and lower Treasury yields resulted in a sharp fall in the U.S. dollar, helping to boost prices of commodities that are priced in the U.S. currency.
A popular gauge of the U.S. dollar’s value against a basket of rivals sunk to its lowest level in more than a year on Thursday. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY fell 0.3% to 100.91.
Although the Energy Information Administration reported a weekly gain in U.S. commercial crude inventories of 5.9 million barrels on Wednesday, recent OPEC+ supply cuts coupled with falling Russian exports have also helped to support global prices, leading UBS Group to recommend investors stay long oil prices.
See: Saudi Arabia to Lose Top Spot in OPEC+ as Production Cuts Take Effect
“With less supply from OPEC+ during the demand-heavy summer months, we expect larger oil inventory declines to become visible and support oil prices,” said Giovanni Staunovo, a commodity analyst at the Swiss bank.
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