Oil prices up with decline in US crude stocks

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Crude oil prices gained around 1% on Tuesday before thin pre-Christmas trading on Wednesday while crude oil inventories in the U.S. seem to be lower and a Sino-American phase one trade deal is set to be signed.

International benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.22% on Tuesday to end the day at $67.20 per barrel, and American benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 1.01% to finish the session at $61.13 a barrel.

Global markets are mostly closed on Wednesday due to the Christmas holiday break.

Crude oil inventories in the U.S. are estimated to decrease by 7.9 million barrels for the week ending Dec. 20 to 444.1 million barrels, according to American Petroleum Institute (API) data released on Tuesday.

Official data for the change in weekly crude oil inventories will be released on Friday, instead of the usual Wednesday, by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) due to the Christmas break.

On the demand side, the phase one trade deal between the U.S. and China, the world's two largest economies and oil consumers, is expected to be signed before the new year.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that his country and China will hold a formal ceremony to sign the phase one trade deal that was reached on Dec. 13.

The ceremony is expected to be held in January after translation of the 86-page deal, which has yet to be released to the public, is completed by both sides.