By: Mahmoud Gamal
Mubasher: Oil prices rose on Thursday backed by a fall in the US dollar, despite a rise in US weekly stockpiles and renewed fears of a supply glut.
By 4:15 am GMT, mixed Brent gained 0.35% or 19 cents to $54.65 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil added 0.29% or 15 cents to $52.64 pb.
"What we are seeing today is a natural rebound of crude oil after taking in US inventory data, which came higher than analysts' expectations," commodity market analyst Zamil Al-Oteiby told Mubasher.
US crude oil inventories rose by around 2.256 million barrels, against an increase of 2.56 million barrels in the week before, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Analysts had expected US stockpiles to rise by 2.515 million barrels.
Markets are anticipating important news regarding incoming crude from Libya, which mostly likely helped bring down prices on Wednesday, the analyst noted.
Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) confirmed in an official statement late Tuesday that its Al-Feel and Sharara oilfields have been reopened, which will likely increase the country's oil production by around 270,000 barrels per day over the next three months.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
