Oil prices rise moderately

Oil prices rose moderately on December 30 morning amid a decrease in the US inventories, trading data showed, Report informs citing Prime.

As of 8:43 (GMT+4), the price of March futures for Brent crude increased by 0.28%, to $79.43 per barrel, February futures for WTI - by 0.33%, to $76.81. On December 29, the price of Brent crude oil, immediately after the release of US statistics, exceeded $80 per barrel, for the first time in more than a month, but then somewhat adjusted during the evening.

Commercial oil reserves in the US (excluding the strategic reserve) for the week ended December 24 decreased by 3.6 million barrels, or 0.8%, to 420 million barrels. Analysts had expected a decline of only 3.2 million barrels.

However, according to analysts at S&P Global Platts, quoted by the Wall Street Journal, the outlook for oil demand, at least in China, is uncertain given the ongoing anti-COVID measures there.