Brent ended 0.84 per cent higher at $91.55 and WTI ended 0.33 per cent higher at $89.66.
An unexpected pullback in U.S. oil reserves gave a boost to crude prices on Wednesday, despite a sell-off around the Ukraine crisis.
The price of Brent North Sea crude for April delivery, the most traded in London, rose 0.84 per cent to close at $91.55 a barrel.
In New York, the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI), with maturity in March, gained 0.33%, to end at 89.66 dollars.
The session had started off without a bang and Brent was even threatening to fall back below 90 dollars, before the report on the state of US stocks offered black gold a fulcrum.
In the week ended February 4, crude reserves decreased by 4.7 million barrels, to 410.4 million, while analysts expected an increase of 1.5 million barrels, according to figures released on Wednesday by the US Energy Information Agency (EIA).
As a result, commercial inventories fell to the lowest level since 2018, at a level 11% lower than the same period last year.
“It was a positive report on the upside” of prices, commented Matt Smith, head of oil analysis at Kpler. “The magnitude of the decline was surprising.»
According to Bart Melek, head of commodity strategy at TD Securities, total inventories of petroleum products, crude and refined, have never been lower since 2015 in the United States. Therefore, he concluded, “it is not a surprise to see WTI back above 90 dollars” (it finally closed below this threshold).
The decrease in reserves is mainly due to the increase in exports, combined with the decline in imports, as well as the acceleration of domestic demand, which is currently 8% higher compared to the same period in 2021.
Gasoline demand, in particular, jumped nearly 11 percent week-on-week and is 16 percent above its level a year ago.
This inflection in consumption has also pushed prices of refined products higher than those of crude, Matt Smith pointed out, with gasoline and heating oil futures each gaining more than 1% on Wednesday.
In general, “the spectrum of the Omicron variant seems to be fading in many parts of the world, prompting countries to reduce restrictions, which pushes demand for crude,” Louise Dickson of the Rystad law firm said in a note.
This current seems to be gaining the upper hand, although there are growing “signs that commodity markets have integrated a de-escalation” into the Ukrainian crisis, according to Bart Melek, which would tend to lower the pressure on prices.
