2020.07.0819:02:00UTC+00Crude Oil Futures Settle Higher On Demand Hopes

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday as a slightly higher demand forecast for next year by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) helped offset data showing a sharp jump in crude inventories last week.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up $0.28 or about 0.7% at $40.90 a barrel, after advancing to a high of $41.08 a little past noon.

Data released by EIA this morning showed U.S. crude inventories rose by 5.7 million barrels in the week to July 3, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 3.1 million barrels.

The EIA data also showed that net U.S. crude imports rose last week by 2.13 million barrels per day to 5.01 million bpd, their highest since August 2019. Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. futures rose by 2.2 million barrels, EIA said.

According to the data, gasoline stocks fell by 4.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, rose 3.1 million barrels to about 177.3 million barrels, their highest since early 1983.

A report from EIA on Tuesday said crude oil production is expected to fall by 600,000 barrels per day in 2020, a smaller decline than the 670,000 barrels per day it forecast previously.

However, it also expected global oil demand would recover through the end of 2021, predicting demand of 101.1 million bpd by the fourth quarter of next year.