Oil futures rose on Wednesday, with U.S. prices marking their highest settlement in two weeks. The Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected weekly decline of 200,000 barrels in U.S. crude supplies, along with bigger-than-expected increases in gasoline and distillate stockpiles. Oil prices, however, rose despite the soft data, indicating that the post-Thanksgiving selloff in energy markets amid omicron concerns was “overdone,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research. The OPEC+ decision to leave its December meeting open also introduced an “OPEC+ put” in the market, with speculators “hesitant to sell this market short knowing that OPEC+ could act at any time to support prices” in coming weeks. January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF22, +0.62% rose 31 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $72.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest front-month contract finish since Nov. 24, FactSet data show.
This article was originally published by Marketwatch.com. Read the original article here.
