WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil rose on Wednesday as news of major trading partners of the U.S. signing trade deals with the US - one after the other, to avoid high tariffs post August 1 - brought in optimism about the emerging economic scenario. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.87 or 1.33 percent to $66.12 per barrel. Investors are now optimistic that the U.S. could sign up more deals with its remaining trading partners before August 1 or perhaps a few days after that. Of note, the deadline for 'reciprocal tariff' suspension period was extended up to August 1 from July 9, by the U.S. President Donald Trump. A day earlier, Trump announced securing a trading framework with Japan and hinted that talks with EU were progressing well. As UK, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia have come to an agreement with the U.S. already, Canada, India, South Korea, and the EU are ramping up their efforts. U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that the talks were 'going better than they had been,' and that progress was being made. Concerns that a global trade war could drown the demand for crude oil are slowly evaporating. According to the Petroleum Status Report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. crude stockpiles declined by 3.169 million barrels in the week ending July 19, (8 percent below) exceeding expectations of around 1.4-million-barrel draw. U.S. crude exports climbed by 3,37,000 barrels per day to reach 3.86 million bpd while net imports declined by 7,40,000 bpd. U.S. commercial stockpiles are now around 9 percent below the five-year seasonal average at around 419 million barrels. Gasoline stocks also dropped by 1.7 million barrels while distillate inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels. On its latest market outlook, OPEC has released bullish forecast, projecting 1.29 million bpd increase in global oil demand for 2025. Russia has been slammed hard with threats of sanctions, earlier by Trump with a grace period of 50-day to announce a ceasefire with Ukraine and then by the EU-imposed 18th round of sanction wherein the price cap has been lowered 15 percent below the prevailing rate. However, officially the Russian government has not responded with its plans, either on complying with the ultimatum or countering the threats. Traders feel that a broader picture on tariffs and global inventories shall emerge by the second week of August.
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