2020.07.1510:06:00UTC+00Oil Gains After Big Stockpile Draw

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after industry data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories and investors closely watched for news from a meeting later in the day on the future level of production by OPEC and its allies.

Benchmark Brent crude rose 29 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $43.19 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 37 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $40.66 a barrel.

The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by 8.3 million barrels in the week to July 10, beating forecasts for a decline of 2.1 million barrels,

Inventory data from the Energy Information Administration will be out later in the day.

Key members of OPEC and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, are meeting today to decide oil output policy from August.

They will decide whether to extend output cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) that end in July or ease them to 7.7 million bpd as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.

OPEC said in its monthly report that global oil demand would rebound sharply next year, surpassing levels seen before the coronavirus crisis.