By Zhang Mengying
Investing.com – Oil was up on Thursday morning in Asia as U.S. demand stays strong and China demand may rebound with COVID-19 curbs easing.
Brent oil futures rose 0.26% to $123.90 by 11:44 PM ET (3:44 AM GMT) and crude oil WTI futures edged up 0.18% to $122.33.
Wednesday’s U.S. crude supply data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a build of 2.025 million barrels for the week ended June 3.
EIA data also suggested that U.S. gasoline stockpiles dropped by 812,000 barrels to 218.18 million barrels last week, indicating fuel demand resilience during peak summer despite soaring prices.
“It’s hard to see a significant downside in the coming months, with the gasoline market likely to only tighten further as we move deeper into driving season," ING's head of commodities research Warren Patterson said.
Crude supply data from the American Petroleum Institute released the day before, showed a build of 1.845 million barrels.
China’s trade data released earlier in the day showed that the exports of the world’s largest oil importer grew at a double-digit pace in May, adding to hopes that global oil demand could grow even further as China continues easing COVID-19 curbs.
“China's reopening continued to boost the demand optimism,” CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said in a note.
“The oil price could be heading to the peak of March at above $130 on a very tight supply market.”
On the supply side, UAE energy minister Suhail Al Mazroui said on Wednesday that efforts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC) oil producers to increase output are “not encouraging”.
The block agreed to accelerate production increases to cool fuel prices, while producers have little spare capacity to meet the agreed output.