(MENAFN- FxPro) Crude oil gained on Thursday with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's view on interest rates and noting lower stocks in the U.S.
On Friday industry research group Baker Hughes (NYSE:NYSE:BHI) will release its latest estimates of the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. It decreased by 10 last week to 652, the second straight weekly decline.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for October delivery rose 0.19% to $47.24 a barrel.
Overnight, U.S. crude futures surged nearly 6% enjoying its strongest one-day move in September, after data released on Wednesday showed that domestic stockpiles surprisingly fell sharply last week.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Brent crude for November delivery wavered between $47.71 and $50.33, before closing at $49.74, up 2.00 or 4.18% on the day. The spread between the international and U.S. domestic benchmarks for crude stood at $2.60, to remain near eight-month lows.
In its Weekly Petroleum Status Report on Wednesday morning, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said U.S. commercial crude oil inventories for the week ending on September 11 fell by 2.1 million barrels from the previous week. It followed estimates of a 3.1 million draw by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday evening.
At 455.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories remain near levels not seen for this time of year in at least the last 80 years. Motor gas inventories increased by 2.8 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.1 million barrels.
A week earlier, the EIA and API both reported builds in excess of 2.0 million for the week ending on Sept. 4. Energy traders are keeping a close eye on the supply-demand balance in global energy markets, amid a glut of oversupply. Energy markets have been saturated by excess supply since last November when OPEC depressed prices with a strategic decision to keep its production ceiling above 30 million barrels per day.
U.S. crude production, meanwhile, continued its steady decline as output last week fell by 18,000 bpd to 9.117 million. It marked the seventh consecutive week of weekly declines. In early-June, crude production in the U.S. peaked above 9.6 million barrels per day, its highest on record in more than 40 years.
The surge in crude prices comes one day before the Federal Open Market Committee could raise its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. An interest rate hike is expected to boost the dollar by making it more appealing for currency traders in search of high-yield investments.
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