Oil prices continue climb on strong crude demand, weaker dollar

By Laura Sanicola

(Reuters) – Oil prices continued to rise in early Asian trade on Thursday after surging more than 3% in the previous session, driven by record exports and a weaker U.S. dollar.

futures rose 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $95.94 a barrel by 0015 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 19 cents, or 0.2%, to $88.10.

U.S. crude stocks rose 2.6 million barrels last week, according to weekly government data on Wednesday, with crude exports rising to 5.1 million barrels a day, the most ever.

Traders attributed the surge in exports to the widened WTI-Brent spread, which, coming into Wednesday’s trade, was at more than $8 per barrel.

The dollar’s weakness also added support, as the greenback’s strength of late has been a notable factor inhibiting oil market gains. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated crude less expensive for other currency holders.

Prices also rose on a Bloomberg news report that the United States and the European Union are likely to settle for a more loosely policed cap at a higher price than once envisioned, with just the Group of Seven (G7) nations and Australia committed to abide by it, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Europe is expected next month to ban oil imports from Russia and restrict Russian shippers from the global shipping insurance industry.

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