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Oil prices rise for the third day after
Oil prices pared their gains during trading on Thursday, February 20, at the settlement, but rose for the third session in a row after the release of US data that revealed a decline in US gasoline and distillate inventories and a rise in crude stocks, which coincided with concerns of supply disruptions from Russia.
Brent crude futures rose 44 cents, or 0.58%, to $76.48 a barrel at the settlement.
US crude futures rose 32 cents, or 0.44%, to settle at $72.57 a barrel, according to Reuters.
US Energy Information Administration data on Thursday revealed that US crude oil inventories increased slightly more than expected last week, while the country's gasoline and distillate inventories decreased due to seasonal maintenance work at refineries.
This coincides with disruptions in oil supplies from Russia that contributed to the rise in oil prices. Ukraine's energy minister, German Galushenko, said a Russian attack on Ukraine's gas infrastructure had damaged gas production facilities overnight.
This comes after oil flows through the Caspian Sea pipeline were hit by a Ukrainian drone attack on a pumping station in Russia linked to the pipeline, with Moscow saying on Tuesday that flows had fallen by 30-40%.
Meanwhile, Russia resumed loading oil from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk on Wednesday evening after a two-day halt due to a storm, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, which may have been the reason for the paring of gains in the final hours before the settlement.US data
