15.04.202119:16:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Higher For 4th Straight Session

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fourth straight session, continuing to ride on the recent upward revision in global oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency.

Official data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) that showed a larger than expected drop in crude inventories in the U.S. last week also continued to support oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.31 or about 0.5% at $63.46 a barrel, a near 4-week high.

WTI crude futures had climbed almot 5% in the previous session.

The IEA has sharply raised its world oil demand estimate for 2021, pointing to further signs that the global economy is recovering faster than previously expected, particularly in the U.S. and China.

Data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories in the U.S. dropped by 5.9 million barrels last week compared with an expected draw of about 3.5 million barrels.