Crude oil futures ended higher on Wednesday amid expectations that OPEC+ will extend its current production cuts further into 2021, or even increase the cuts. A smaller than expected increase in US crude inventories in the week ended October 13 also contributed to oil's uptick. Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles in the US increased by 768,000 barrels last week, less than an expected increase of 1.65 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday a build in crude oil inventories of 4.174 million barrels for the week ending November 13, while analysts had predicted an inventory build of 1.95-million barrels.
Crude oil futures for December gained $0.39 or about 0.9 percent to settle at $41.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. January Brent crude rose $0.58 or 1.3 percent to settle at $44.33 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.