Oil prices rise in early trade

Oil prices increased on Wednesday as U.S. oil and fuel supplies tightened and as the possibility of additional OPEC+ output restrictions was raised by a warning to speculators from the Saudi energy minister.

Brent crude futures were up 86 cents, or 1.1%, to $77.70 per barrel, while WTI was up 88 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.79 per barrel.

Late on Tuesday, industry statistics revealed a substantial decline in U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories.

According to data from the American Petroleum Institute cited on Tuesday by market sources, crude inventories decreased by around 6.8 million barrels in the week ending May 19. Stocks of distillate decreased by roughly 1.8 million while those of petrol fell by about 6.4 million.

The United States’ petrol stockpiles would have decreased for the third consecutive week to their lowest levels before to Memorial Day since 2014 if data from the Energy Information Administration, which is due on Wednesday, confirms the API estimates.

Memorial Day, which falls on May 29 this year, generally ushers in the busiest travel season for Americans.

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