Crude oil prices continued their bullish trend at London’s trading session on Thursday morning. Oil traders are going long, as recent data from the world’s largest economy reveals a surprise draw in U.S. crude oil stockpiles, coupled with high buying interest from Asia, strengthened the resolve of oil traders to go long.
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- At about 6.15 GMT, Brent oil futures gained 0.51% to $48.86/barrel.
- West Texas Intermediate futures ticked up by 0.46% to trade at $45.92/barrel.
- Data from the EIA revealed a plunge of 754,000 barrels for the week to November 20.
- However, Gasoline stocks gained 2.2 million barrels in the week to 230.2 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said.
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What they are saying
In an explanatory note to Nairametrics, Stephen Innes, Chief Global Market Strategist at Axi, gave deep insights on key fundamentals pushing oil prices up amid a COVID-19 era.
“Oil traded higher on Wednesday in a very tight range until the rally midday in New York. WTI attempted a clean push through $46, and Brent printed through $49 before retracing some.
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The inventory numbers released earlier in the NY session helped push the market higher, with the EIA figures more bullish than the previous days’ API estimates and bullish to consensus.”
He also elaborated on the buying interest seen lately from the Asian economic juggernauts, China and India, which is giving oil bulls enough gas in roaring hard, “Asia’s unquenching demand remains for all to see. Chinese and Indian buying interest continues with tenders issued for both spot and term cargoes, directly responsible for increased demand and reflected in the Brent curve, which has moved to a mild backwardation this week.”
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Bottom line
The colossal moves prevailing in the crude oil market over the past two days echo optimism amid positive vaccine development. The flattening of the curve suggests that a positive surprise on current demand is also being reflected.
