Palestine Economy Portal.

Oil prices rose on Thursday to offset some of the heavy losses suffered in the previous session due to signs of easing trade tensions between Washington and Beijing and the decline in US oil inventories to the lowest level in nearly a year.

Brent crude futures rose 23 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $ 61.04 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 28 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $ 56.03 a barrel.

The rise came after China decided to exempt US medicines to treat cancer and other products from customs duties, and US President Donald Trump announced the postponement of a planned increase in customs duties on Chinese goods worth billions of dollars.

The concessions preceded a meeting in the coming days aimed at defusing a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

Thursday's price rise followed a sharp fall in world benchmark crude on Wednesday after a report that President Trump was considering easing sanctions on Iran, a move that could boost global crude supplies.

Positive sentiment in the market was boosted after the US Energy Information Administration announced on Wednesday that US crude inventories fell last week to the lowest level in almost a year, as refineries raised production while imports fell.

Crude inventories fell for the fourth week and fell to 6.9 million barrels in the week ending Sept. 6, more than double analysts' expectations for a drop to 2.7 million barrels.

Source: Reuters