Oil prices rose on Thursday after closing at a two-week low in the previous session as falling US gasoline inventories and OPEC+ decision to hit pause on further production increases eased supply concerns, though lingering demand worries in the US capped gains.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $63.60 per barrel at 09.33 a.m. local time (0633 GMT), up around 0.3% from the previous close of $63.43.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also increased by about 0.3% to $59.67, compared to $59.48 in the prior session.
The eight members of the OPEC+ group, comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 137,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, while pausing further increases from January to March 2026 due to seasonality.
The group's plan to pause production increases in the first quarter of next year eased oversupply worries and lifted prices.
Meanwhile, data showing a decline in US gasoline inventories reinforced expectations of strong demand in the world's largest oil consumer, supporting prices.
US gasoline inventories fell by about 4.7 million barrels to 206 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Though a rise in crude oil inventories capped further gains. US commercial crude oil inventories rose by about 5.2 million barrels last week to 421.2 million barrels, while analysts had expected a draw of roughly 2.4 million barrels.
During the same period, US crude oil output rose by 7,000 barrels to an average of 13.65 million barrels per day.
By Handan Kazanci
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr