NEW YORK:Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday, rising to their highest since last February, after Saudi Arabia announced a big voluntary production cut, and as U.S. crude inventories declined in the latest week.
Brent crude was up 79 cents, or 1.5%, to $54.39 a barrel at 2:20 p.m. EST (1920 GMT). Earlier in the session, it hit a high of $54.73 a barrel, a level not seen since Feb. 26, 2020.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 75 cents, or 1.5%, to $50.66 a barrel. The contract touched $50.94 a barrel, its highest since late February.
U.S. crude stocks fell sharply while fuel inventories rose, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday, and 2020 came to a close with a sharp decline in overall demand due to the coronavirus
Crude inventories fell by 8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 1 to 485.5 million barrels, exceeding analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.1 million-barrel drop. The drop in crude stocks is typical for the…