2020.12.1009:03:00UTC+00Oil Edges Higher On Vaccine Optimism

Oil prices rose above $49 a barrel on Thursday as optimism over the rollout of coronavirus vaccines offset data showing a huge rise in U.S. crude inventories.

Concerns over an attack on an Iraqi oilfield also lent some support. A small oilfield in Khabbaz in northern Iraq was set on fire on 9 December in a "terrorist attack", Reuters reported, quoting the Iraqi oil ministry.

Benchmark Brent crude rose 35 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $49.21 a barrel, extending gains for the third straight session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $45.81.

Canada became the latest country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, with the country expecting to begin its immunization rollout as early as next week.

With this, Canada becomes the second country after Britain to give approval to Pfizer's vaccine for its citizens.

In the U.S., a vaccine advisory panel of Food and Drug Administration is due to meet today to decide whether to recommend that a vaccine from Pfizer Inc. and German partner BioNTech SE. should receive emergency use authorization.

Meanwhile, the latest weekly report on U.S. oil inventories showed large increases in both crude and product inventories.

Crude inventories in the U.S. rose by 15.2 million barrels last week, as against expectations for a 1.42 million-barrel decline.

Distillate stockpiles were up 5.2 million barrels in the week, more than 4 times the expected rise, the data showed. Gasoline inventories rose by 4.22 million barrels, nearly twice the expected increase.