oil prices soared on Wednesday, January 13, as positive Chinese trade data and an unexpected draw in weekly U.S. crude oil inventories gave investors reasons to buy crude futures.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 63 cents at 31.49 dollars a barrel.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 69 cents at 31.13 dollars a barrel.
“The API inventory data triggered a profit-taking wave, that’s the main reason for this uptick,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
“But the overall sentiment is still negative, meaning downside risk is still greater than upside potential.”
U.S. crude stocks fell unexpectedly last week, data from industry group, the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday.
China reported exports dipped just 1.4 per cent in U.S. dollar terms in December, compared to forecasts of an eight per cent drop, positively surprising world markets.
The world’s second-biggest oil consumer has also been taking advantage of the oil price rout to stock reserves, increase exports of refined products, and may be set to overtake the United States as the world’s largest importer.
However, the bearish outlook for oil remains.