Oil rises in price due to limited supply, restoration of risk appetite.

Oil prices continued to climb on Thursday on more robust fuel demand and a larger-than-expected decline in US inventories as production in the Gulf of Mexico still hasn’t recovered from two hurricanes.

The market also received support from a widespread return to risky assets amid easing fears over a potential default by Chinese developer Evergrande and possible repercussions for the world’s second-largest economy.

Futures for Brent crude oil increased by 0.14% to $ 76.30 per barrel, WTI – by 0.17% to $ 72.35 per barrel.

Both contracts jumped 2.5% on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data showed US oil inventories fell 3.5 million barrels to 414 million barrels in the week ending September 17, the lowest indicator since October 2018. The decline turned out to be more significant than analysts expected.

“With production in the Gulf of Mexico recovering slowly and natural gas prices still extremely high, the structural outlook for oil remains promising as OPEC + struggles to reach even current production quotas,” said Jeffrey Halley of OANDA.

Oil prices are rising, even though the dollar is holding near a month’s peak after the Fed signal about a possible rate hike as early as next year – earlier than expected.