Prices of crude oil have recovered following reports of larger than expected drawdown of crude stocks in the US and strong economic data from Asian markets.
Brent futures increased 79 cents to $64.81 a barrel, while US crude prices rose 58 cents to $58.57 a barrel, Reuters reported.
With the Japanese economy showing better expected steam, the oil traders anticipated that it could drive oil demand.
“Japan is one of the major importers of crude oil and growth in this region would definitely be favourable for crude demand.”
Weekly crude runs of Japan stood at 3.02 million barrels per day for the week ending May 16, representing a 0.12% rise from this time in 2014.
The country’s usage rate of refinery rose 3.5% points from 2014 and stood at 77.1%.
Crude futures got further strength after American Petroleum Institute (API) said that the crude inventories in the US dipped by 5.2 million barrels last week, against the analysts’ forecast of one million barrels.
CMC Markets chief markets analyst Michael Hewson said that bigger than expected declines indicate more demand backing oil prices.
In the initial three months of 2015, the Japanese economy expanded at an annualised rate of 2.4% following a revised expansion of 1.1% during the period between October and December.
Phillip Futures told the news agency: “Japan is one of the major importers of crude oil and growth in this region would definitely be favourable for crude demand.”
