NEW YORK, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday amid tailwinds on both demand and supply sides.

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery added 96 cent to settle at 53.21 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery increased 92 cents to close at 56.58 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

"On the demand side, hopes of economic recovery and the massive fiscal and financial stimuli being taken by governments are lending support," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Tuesday.

"On the supply side, OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) are still showing good coordination and discipline; in this context, Saudi Arabia in particular is ensuring through its additional voluntary production cuts that the market is undersupplied if anything - despite the considerable production increases in Libya - and that prices are therefore rising," he added.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, pledged a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels per day beyond the required OPEC+ quotas in February and March.

Meanwhile, traders awaited the latest U.S. supply reports as the U.S. Energy Information Administration is set to release the nation's weekly crude stockpiles data on Wednesday. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)