US weekly crude inventories fall, EIA reveals

Oil prices rallied on Wednesday as official data showed weekly US crude inventories fell last week, soothing worries about a global supply glut.

US crude inventories fell 5.2 million barrels to 468.7 million barrels in the week to 14 October, the Energy Information Administration said.

Crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 15.4 million barrels per day, 182,000 barrels less than the previous week’s average.

Oil imports fell 954,000 barrels per day to an average of 6.9 million barrels per day.

At 1542 BST oil prices rose 1.3% to $52.40 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate increased 1.6% to $51.13 per barrel.

Prices were also supported by earlier remarks from Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry minister Khalid Al-Falih who said many non-OPEC member nations are willing to join the cartel in cutting crude output.

Speaking at the Oil and Money conference in London on Wednesday, Al-Falih said talks would continue until OPEC's meeting on 30 November in Vienna. He did not name any countries, Bloomberg reported.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the head OPEC said the cartel is committed to implementing a plan to limit production when it meets in November.

At the Oil and Money conference Mohammad Barkindo said “we have embarked on a rebalancing of the market after the crash of 2014”.

“It’s all 14 member countries that agreed to this decision and that’s what made it unique,” he added.