During early trading on Thursday, oil advanced for the second consecutive day amid the Energy Information Administration report showing a decrease in gasoline inventories in the week ended on March 5.
Brent futures for May delivery gained 0.93% to $68.53 a barrel. WTI futures contracts for April settled up 0.92% to $65.03 a barrel.
Yesterday, the oil market was also bullish. April WTI futures grew by 0.59% to $64.39 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent contracts for May delivery climbed 0.46% to $67.83 a barrel. The difference in Brent and WTI price was $3.44 a barrel.
Market participants are still weighing the statistics on oil inventories and production output for the previous week. Yesterday's report revealed a rise in commercial oil inventories by 13.8 million barrels, the level unseen since December 2020. At the same time, production increased to 10.9 million from 10 million barrels a day in the previous week.
Gasoline inventories plunged by 11.9 million instead of 3.5 million barrels projected by analysts. Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles were down 5.5 million barrels last week. The reading was forecast to decline by only 3.5 million barrels.
Oil prices have been consolidating since the beginning of the week. The oil market is currently in deficit. As long as there is such an imbalance, any downward movement will be limited.
Global oil prices have been swelling for the second session in a row. Earlier, the quotes were falling for two days.