Oil Prices Rise 1% As OPEC+ Delays Output Increase

Oil prices rose nearly 1% on Thursday, amid a larger-than-expected drawdown in US inventories and OPEC+ delaying an output increase. Brent crude futures rose 89 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.59 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 94 cents, or 1.4%, to $70.14 a barrel. The US Energy Information Administration said earlier Thursday that US crude oil inventories fell by 6.9 million barrels during the past week, while the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in a statement that eight countries in the OPEC+ alliance agreed to extend voluntary production cuts for two months until the end of next November. Source: Qatar News Agency