Oil rises on signs of warming US-China tensions, military action in Syria

NEW YORK: Oil prices rose on Wednesday following media reports that China was open to a partial trade deal with the United States and after Turkey launched a military operation in northern Syria, but a build in U.S. crude inventories limited gains.

Brent crude was up 32 cents at $58.56 a barrel by 11:04 a.m. EDT (1504 GMT), and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $52.98, up 35 cents.

U.S. crude stocks grew more than expected last week, rising by 2.9 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 1.4 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said.

“We saw a larger-than-expected build in part by two things: refining utilization rates fell once again – some of the maintenance we’ve been hearing about over the past week is continuing to have an impact,” said Tony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging. “Additionally, total crude oil production rose.”