Oil prices rose today, Thursday, against the backdrop of a decline in gasoline inventories and a decline in crude inventories after US refineries intensified processing operations, reflecting strong demand.
Brent crude futures rose 35 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $85.43 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 36 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $82.47 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels to 445.1 million barrels in the week ended July 5 July. Gasoline inventories fell by 2 million barrels to 229.7 million barrels, far larger than the 600,000 barrel drop expected by analysts during the Fourth of July holiday week in the United States.
Source (Al-Arabiya.net Website, Edited)