WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices surged higher on Wednesday, rebounding strongly after suffering a terrible setback a session earlier, amid hopes the U.S. inventory data for last week will show a drop in stockpiles.
The official data from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will be out at 10:30 AM on Thursday, a day later than the usual release time, due to a holiday on Monday. The American Petroleum Institute's weekly oil report will be out later today.
West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil futures for October ended up $1.29 or about 3.5% at $38.05 a barrel.
On Tuesday, WTI Crude futures had lost as much as 7.6% and closed at a 3-month low.
Brent Crude futures were up by about $1.20 or 3% at $40.99 a barrel, after falling over 5% in the previous session.
According to estimates, U.S. crude oil production will likely drop by 870,000 barrels per day to 11.38 million barrels per day this year.
Analysts reportedly expect EIA data to show a decline of about 500,000 barrels in crude stockpiles for the week ended September 4. The survey by S&P Global Platts expect gasoline supplies to have dropped by about 2.5 million barrels, and distillates stockpile to have risen by about 300,000 barrels last week.
Although oil prices rose today, concerns about outlook for energy demand remain due to continued surge in coronavirus cases in the U.K., Spain and India. The growing number of new cases is raising worries that economic recovery will be much slower than initially thought.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX