2021.02.2518:58:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Higher For 4th Straight Day

Crude oil futures settled higher on Thursday, moving up for a fourth straight session amid hopes global energy demand will see a significant rise and hit pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of this year.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.31 or about 0.5% at $63.53 a barrel, after hitting a fresh 13-month high of $63.81 a barrel.

It is widely expected that global oil demand will reach 100 million barrels per day by the end of the year thanks to the faster momentum in vaccination rollout across the world.

Lower crude production in the U.S., and the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates at near-zero levels for the foreseeable future too contribute to the rise in crude oil prices in recent sessions.

A rare winter storm in Texas caused U.S. crude production to drop by more than 10%, or 1 million barrels per day (bpd) last week, the Energy Information Administration said in a report.

Oil prices moved higher despite reports that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, collectively known as OPEC+, will likely consider increasing crude production by 500,000 barrels per day beginning in April. The OPEC+ meeting is scheduled to take place next week.