Investing.com - Oil prices were higher on Thursday, as a fall in U.S. production bolstered traders.
Crude oil futures rose 0.80% to $63.88 a barrel by 10:23 AM ET (14:23 GMT).
Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., was up 62 cents, or 0.91%, to $68.84 a barrel.
The price of oil was supported by a fall in U.S. production, easing investor concern of a supply glut.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by 4.617 million barrels for the week ended March 30, confounding expectations for a rise of 1.4 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) on Wednesday.
The price of oil has been stuck between the rise in U.S. shale and a deal from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ and Russia to curb production and end a global supply glut.
OPEC has been cutting crude output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to prop up oil prices. The pact began in January 2017 and is set to expire at the end of 2018 but de-facto leader Saudi Arabia is pushing for the cuts to extend into 2019.
OPEC member Qatar’s energy minister Mohammed al-Sada said Thursday that he supports the idea of maintaining oil supply curbs. While prices have recovered, there has not been an increase in investment, he said.
A stronger dollar also held back the price of oil slightly. Since oil is priced in dollars, a rise in the greenback makes foreign currency purchases costly.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.36% to 90.10.
Meanwhile easing worry over a trade war between the U.S and China also appeased investor appetite for risk.
In other energy trading, Gasoline RBOB Futures increased 0.07% at $1.9851 a gallon, while heating oil rose 0.18% to $1.9808 a gallon. Natural gas futures slumped 0.77% to $2.697 per million British thermal units.