Oil prices crept up on Thursday amid ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts and US sanctions against exporters Venezuela and Iran, but gains were capped by record US crude output and rising commercial fuel inventories.
Brent crude futures were at $66.12 per barrel at 0757 GMT, up 13 cents, or 0.2 per cent, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $56.24 per barrel, up 2 cents.
Prices are being supported by efforts led by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other countries – a grouping known as ‘OPEC+’ – to withhold around 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, a strategy aimed at tightening markets.
