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Saudi Arabia's cabinet said on Tuesday that it reaffirms its
support for precautionary measures by the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, to
stabilise the market, state media reported.
Brent crude rose 64 cents, or 0.7%, to $86.81 by 1012 GMT and
touched $86.94, the highest since April 13. U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 78 cents, or 0.9%, to $83.70.
The U.S. benchmark touched $83.81, the highest since November
2022.
Crude posted its sixth consecutive weekly gains last week and
hit its highest levels since mid-April on Monday, helped by a
reduction in OPEC+ supplies and hopes of stimulus boosting oil
demand recovery in China.
"There is no doubt that there is plenty of momentum here," said
Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Avatrade. "The clear
trend seems to be skewed to the upside."
Some bearish pressure came from American Petroleum Institute
(API) figures on Tuesday, which according to market sources
showed U.S. crude stocks rose by 4.1 million barrels last week,
although gasoline and distillate inventories fell.
"Prices remain stable this morning despite economic headwinds
helped by U.S. product draws reported by the API, albeit crude
inventories built more than expected," oil broker PVM said.
Official U.S. Energy Information Administration inventory
figures are out at 1430 GMT.
On Tuesday, oil came under pressure from Chinese data showing
crude oil imports in July fell 18.8% from the previous month to
their lowest daily rate since January, although they were up 17%
from a year earlier.
But adding support, Saudi Arabia last week extended its
voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels per day to the end
of September and Russia said it would cut oil exports by 300,000
bpd in September.
(Additional reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Andrew
Hayley in Beijing; editing by Jason Neely and Bernadette Baum)
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