Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Wednesday, despite a rise in U.S. crude inventories, with the market heading for its largest third-quarter gain in 13 years after the Iraqi oil minister said OPEC and its partners were considering extending or deepening output cuts.
Brent crude futures rose $1.06, or 1.9 percent, to $56.20 a barrel by 12:19 p.m. EDT (1619 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 91 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $50.39.
Crude prices were on course for a rise of nearly 16 percent this quarter, which would make this year’s performance the strongest for the third quarter since 2004.
U.S. crude oil stockpiles jumped last week as imports and production increased, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, as operations resumed from the impact of Hurricane Harvey which hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 25.
Crude inventories rose for a third straight week, building by 4.6 million barrels, about a million more barrels than forecast.
”The impact of Hurricane Harvey can still be seen in today’s larger-than-expected build in the U.S. commercial crude stockpile,“ said Abhishek Kumar, Senior Energy Analyst at Interfax Energy’s Global Gas Analytics in London, ”However, this has had limited impact in dissipating the bullish sentiment prevailing in the market.”
Gasoline stocks fell 2.1 million barrels, in line with analysts’ expectations while distillate stocks inventories fell 5.7 million barrels, the biggest weekly draw since November 2011.
On Friday the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers meet in Vienna to discuss the progress of their deal to limit output.
