Crude oil and refined product futures were higher at midday Thursday, after the International Energy Agency raised its 2024 global oil demand estimates and the Energy Information Administration reported U.S. oil stocks fell last week.
The more-active NYMEX March West Texas Intermediate contract was up by about $1.50 to $74 a barrel as of 12:10 p.m. ET and the front-month February WTI contract was $1.60 higher at $74.15/bbl.
London-based March Brent crude was up by $1.25 to $79.15/bbl and April Brent was $1.20 higher at $79.70/bbl.
The NYMEX March RBOB contract was up 3.75cts to $2.196 a gallon and February RBOB was up by the same amount to $2.1730/gal. March ULSD also added 3.75cts to $2.658/gal and February ULSD was ahead by 3.85cts to $2.6925/gal.
EIA earlier in the morning reported U.S. crude stocks fell by about 2.5 million bbl in the week ended Friday. While both gasoline and distillate stocks rose, the increase was below gains reported in the previous two weeks.
IEA on Thursday projected global crude production will rise by 1.2 million barrels a day this year. That's up from its December forecast of 1.1 million b/d gain.
The agency also said growth in global oil demand slowed significantly at the end of last year and is expected to weaken further.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-18-24 1250ET
