Oil prices up 10% with rising Asia demand

By Ovunc Kutlu and Gulsen Cagatay

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices were up around 10% on Thursday as some Asian countries start purchasing crude oil, which created a slight increase in global oil demand.

The price of the international benchmark Brent crude was trading at $22.22 per barrel at 0611 GMT for a 9.6% increase after closing Wednesday at $20.27 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was trading at $15.37 a barrel at the same time for an 11.5% increase after ending Wednesday at $13.78 per barrel.

Some refineries in China, India, Japan and South Korea have begun purchasing crude oil to take advantage of low prices, which in turn has revived oil demand in Asia and caused some increase in prices.

However, U.S.' crude oil inventories showing another strong increase continues to keep pressure on prices.

Commercial crude oil inventories in the U.S. rose by 15 million barrels, or 3%, to 518.6 million barrels for the week ending April 17, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday.

The EIA data also showed an output decline in the U.S., the world's biggest crude oil producer, which could alleviate some of the rising glut of supply in the country.

Crude oil production in the U.S. decreased by 110,000 bpd to approximately 12.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the week ending April 17, which is down from an all-time high of 13.1 million bpd that was recorded for the week ending Feb. 28.

The U.S.' crude oil production is expected to average 11.8 million bpd in 2020, according to the EIA's Short-Term Energy Outlook report for April.