Oil held gains in early Asian trading after OPEC+ agreed to boost production next month and while an industry report showed decline in U.S. crude inventories.
Futures in New York traded near $77 a barrel after rising 2.4% over the past two trading session. OPEC+ agreed to increase output as earlier agreed by 400,000 a barrel for February.
The American Petroleum Institute reported U.S. stockpiles fell short by 6.43 million barrels last week.
“The move has provided some comfort to the market, as it signals that OPEC+ are not worried about the outlook in the short term,” said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV told Bloomberg. “However, we still need to keep a close eye on China, given reports that another city went into lockdown.”
API report shows that U.S. gasoline stockpiles, meanwhile, increased by 7.06 million barrels last week, while inventories of distillates that includes diesel rose by 4.38 million barrels.
