Oil prices rebounded Thursday on bargain-hunting after a surge in US crude stockpiles and record output in Saudi Arabia sparked a sell-off in the previous session, analysts said.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May advanced $1.33 from Wednesday’s close to $51.75 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for May rallied $1.66 to stand at $57.20 nearing midday in London.
Shailaja Nair, of energy information provider Platts, said Thursday’s price rebound was “due to bargain-hunting” traders, who pounced on oil at depressed prices.
Analysts however expect prices to remain under pressure owing to a global oversupply.
On Wednesday, WTI sank $3.56 while Brent tumbled $3.55 after the US Department of Energy’s weekly commercial inventories report showed an increase of nearly 11 million barrels of crude to a fresh record high of 482.4 million barrels.
Also hitting prices was the announcement by Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi that Saudi production hit a record high 10.3 million barrels a day in March, despite the global crude glut and sagging prices.
That was up 450,000 barrels per day from February and topped the previous peak in 1980, while Naimi said he expected the kingdom’s production to continue at around 10.0 million barrels a day.
Credit: Vanguard
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