2018.11.1515:19:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Higher Despite Another Increase In U.S. Stockpiles

Crude oil prices ended higher on Tuesday, extending gains for a second successive session, despite official data from the Energy Information Administration showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories in the week to November 9.

Crude oil futures for December ended up $0.21, or 0.4%, at $56.46 a barrel.

On Wednesday, crude oil futures ended with a gain of $0.56, or 1%, at $56.25 a barrel, snapping a 12-session losing streak.

The report from EIA showed crude oil inventories to have risen by 10.27 million barrels last week, more than thrice the expected increase. That was the biggest weekly increase since February 2017.

The data also showed that U.S. crude production was up by 1,00,000 barrels per day to 11.7 million barrels per day, a record high.

According to the report, gasoline inventories were down by 1.41 million barrels last week. Distillate stockpiles declined by 3.59 million barrels.

Despite the rise in U.S. crude inventories, oil prices edged higher today with investors reacting to reports that OPEC and its partners were planning to reduce to output by 1.4 million barrels per day. The drop in gasoline inventories and distillate stockpiles too contributed to oil's uptick.

The consistent increase in U.S. crude output and the U.S. government's decision to allow eight top oil buyers, including India and China to continue importing Iranian oil even after sanctions against Iran came into force from November 4, resulted in oil prices declining for a record twelve straight sessions running to November 13.