Crude oil futures ended higher for fourth straight session on Thursday amid hopes global energy demand will see a significant rise and hit pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of this year. It is widely expected that global oil demand will reach 100 million barrels per day by the end of the year thanks to the faster momentum in coronavirus vaccine rollouts across the world. Lower crude production in the US, and the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates at near-zero levels for the foreseeable future also contributed to the rise in crude oil prices in recent sessions. The Energy Information Administration in a report said a rare winter storm in Texas caused US crude production to drop by more than 10%, or 1 million barrels per day (bpd), last week. However, global benchmark Brent crude suffered its first loss in four sessions.
Crude oil futures for April surged $0.31 or 0.5 percent to settle at $63.53 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, April Brent crude fell $0.16 or 0.2 percent to settle at $66.88 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.