Oil rose on bigger-than-expected inventory drop

• Source: Xinhua
• [08:35 September 11 2009]
• Comments

Oil prices rose for a third straight day Thursday as government report showed US crude inventories dropped more than expected.

According to the US Energy Department's Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude stockpiles dropped by 5.9 million barrels during the week ending September 4, much more than analysts had previously expected.

The rally in oil was also supported by the monthly report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in which the Paris-based organization said that the global oil demand might not shrink as much as previously forecasted. The IEA also raised its forecasts for daily crude demand to 84.4 million and 85.7 million barrels for the year of 2009 and 2010 because of unexpectedly strong economic signals from China and the United States, two of the world's biggest energy consumers.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery settled up 63 cents to $71.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In London, Brent Crude for October delivery rose 23 cents to 70.06 dollars a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.