Oil bounces by $1 per barrel after 6-percent plunge, but outlook still weak

November 21, 2018

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil bounced by more than 1 percent on Wednesday to claw back some of the previous day’s 6-percent plunge, lifted by a report of an unexpected decline in U.S. commercial crude inventories and record Indian crude imports.

But investors remained on edge, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) warning of unprecedented uncertainty in oil markets due to a difficult economic environment and political risk.

International Brent crude oil futures (LCOc1) were at $63.39 per barrel at 0747 GMT, up $86 per barrel, or 1.4 percent, from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures (CLc1), were up 90 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $54.33 a barrel.

Wednesday’s rebound came after a report by the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday that U.S. commercial crude inventories last week fell unexpectedly by 1.5 million barrels, to 439.2 million, in the week to Nov. 16.

Record crude imports by India of almost 5 million barrels per day (bpd) also supported prices, traders said.