On Thursday, oil prices marginally increased, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) increased by 17 cents to $78.08 per barrel. By 0150, the May contract was up 14 cents to $77.45 per barrel. The April delivery of Brent oil saw a 14-cent increase to $83.17 per barrel, while the May contract saw a 13-cent increase to $82.24 per barrel.
According to sources familiar with plant operations, BP’s 435,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in India will resume full output in March following a power outage that began on February 1.
U.S. refinery run rates increased to 81.5% of total capacity last week from 80.6% the week before.
“any drawdown in U.S. oil inventories should see further support for oil prices.” Due to a U.S. vacation, official data from the Energy Information Administration is not expected until Thursday at 1600 .
