Investing.com - Oil prices rose to their highest level in over three and a half years on Thursday after news that Saudi Arabian officials want the price of oil to rise.
Crude oil futures rose 1.07% to $69.20 a barrel by 10:28 AM ET (14:28 GMT), its highest level since November 2014 and a session high.
Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., was up 1.42% to $74.52a barrel.
Saudi Arabia officials would like the price of oil to continue rising to $80 or even $100, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The news signals that the de-facto leader will not seek any changes on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ and Russia deal to cut production.
OPEC has been cutting crude output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to prop up oil prices. The pact began in January 2017 and is set to expire at the end of 2018.The group meets on Friday and, while its efforts to end a global supply glut have been successful, Saudi Arabia is pushing for the cuts to extend into 2019.
Prices were also supported by data that showed crude stockpiles have declined in the U.S.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report on Wednesday that crude oil inventories fell by 1.071 million barrels in the week ended April 13. Market analysts' had expected a crude-stock decline of 500,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a decline of 1.047 million.
The data is welcome news to investors, who had feared a rise in U.S. shale would offset efforts by OPEC and Russia to curb production and end a global supply glut.
In other energy trading, Gasoline RBOB Futures increased 0.66% at $2.0887 a gallon, while heating oil rose 1.41% to $2.1206 a gallon. Natural gas futures fell 2.04% to $2.683 per million British thermal units.