Oil Prices Close Higher For Seventh Straight Session

(RTTNews) - Extending the upward trend seen over the past several sessions, the price of crude oil moved higher during trading on Thursday.

Crude for February delivery rose $0.43 or 0.6 percent to $76.99 a barrel, closing higher for the seventh consecutive session.

Oil prices continued to benefit from optimism about the outlook for fuel demand a report from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude oil inventories fell by more than expected last week.

The report showed crude oil inventories slid by 3.6 million barrels in the week ended December 24, exceeding economist estimates for a decrease of 3.1 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories also fell by 1.5 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories declined by 1.7 million barrels.

A separate report released by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showed crude oil inventories decreased by 3.1 million barrels last week.

Oil prices also continued to benefit from easing concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.