Crude Oil Spikes On Drop In Inventories Ahead Of OPEC Meeting

(RTTNews) - Crude oil prices showed a substantial move to the upside during trading on Wednesday as traders looked ahead to the start of OPEC's biannual meeting in Vienna on Thursday.

After inching up $0.14 or 0.3 percent to $56.10 a barrel on Tuesday, crude for January delivery spiked $2.33 or 4.2 percent to $58.43 a barrel.

The jump in oil prices came after a report from the Energy Information Administration showed a steeper than expected weekly drop in crude oil inventories.

The report said crude oil inventories tumbled by 4.9 million barrels in the week ended November 29th compared to estimates for a decrease of about 1.7 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the EIA said gasoline inventories climbed by 3.4 million barrels last week and distillate fuel inventories increased by 3.1 million barrels.

Traders were also looking ahead to the meeting of OPEC members of other oil producers and potential changes in oil production policy.

Reports suggest OPEC and its allies will discuss increasing the existing supply cut of 1.2 million barrels per day by another 400,000 barrels per day and extend the pact until June.

Renewed optimism about trade also contributed to oil's rally after a report from Bloomberg News indicated the U.S. and China are moving closer to agreeing on the amount of tariffs that would be rolled back in a phase one trade deal.

Citing people familiar with the talks, Bloomberg said U.S. negotiators expect a phase one deal to be completed before U.S. tariffs are set to rise on December 15.

The people told Bloomberg outstanding issues in the talks include how to guarantee China's purchases of U.S. agricultural goods and exactly which tariffs to roll back.