Oil prices recover after reported inventory drop in US

Oil prices were able to recover from their initial lows yesterday and closed trading slightly up. They are continuing their recovery this morning, Brent climbing to $50 per barrel and WTI to $43.5 per barrel, notes Commerzbank.

Besides a considerably weaker US dollar, the inventory data published by the US Department of Energy lent support. They showed that US crude oil stocks had declined by 1.7 million barrels, primarily as a result of still nearly record-high crude oil processing. Furthermore, US crude oil production decreased by 70,000 barrels per day. Much higher imports prevented a more pronounced inventory reduction.