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Brent crude futures rose $1.09, or 1.42%, to $77.93 a barrel by
1048 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained
$1.14, or 1.56%, to $74.05 a barrel.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister said short sellers - those
betting that prices will fall - should "watch out" for pain.
Some investors took that as a signal that the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, also
known as OPEC+, could consider further output cuts at a meeting
on June 4.
"Oil prices are trading higher...buoyed by the latest
short-seller warning from Saudi Arabia," said OANDA senior
market analyst Craig Erlam.
"(But) if past experience is anything to go by, traders may be
tempted to call his bluff."
Also boosting oil prices was industry data which showed that
U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories fell sharply.[API/S]
Crude inventories fell about 6.8 million barrels last week,
according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute
(API) figures. Gasoline inventories dropped about 6.4 million.
[API/S]
If data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), due on
Wednesday, confirm these figures, U.S. gasoline inventories
would have declined for the third consecutive week to their
lowest pre-Memorial Day levels since 2014.
The Memorial Day holiday in the United States, this year on May
29, traditionally marks the beginning of U.S. peak summer travel
and higher fuel demand.
Weighing on broader markets, another round of debt ceiling talks
ended on Tuesday with no signs of progress as the deadline to
raise the government's borrowing limit or risk default ticked
closer.[MKTS/GLOB]
Negotiators for Democratic President Joe Biden and Republican
Speaker Kevin McCarthy were expected to reconvene on Wednesday
morning, a source familiar with the matter said.
Price rises were also capped by news that Britain's stubbornly
high inflation rate fell by less than expected last month,
according to official data that raised the chances of more
interest rate hikes.
(Reporting by Rowena Edwards and Shadia Nasralla in London,
additional reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore; editing by
Jason Neely)
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