A general view of Abadan oil refinery in southwest Iran, is pictured from Iraqi side of Shatt al-Arab in Al-Faw south of Basra, Iraq — Reuters LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters): Oil prices climbed on Wednesday as hopes of an effective COVID-19 vaccine continued to bolster sentiment and an industry report showed US crude inventories fell more than expected.
Brent crude LCOc1 rose $1.17, or 2.7 per cent, to $44.78 a barrel at 0925 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 added $1.17 cents, or 2.8 per cent, to $42.53 a barrel. Both benchmarks gained nearly 3.0 per cent on Tuesday.
"This week's news about a coronavirus vaccine was encouraging and, alongside short-covering activity, strongly supported oil prices on Monday and Tuesday," said Giovanni Staunovo, oil analyst for UBS.
The bank cautioned that European lockdowns and restored Libyan oil output could weigh on prices in the short term, but forecast oil at $60 a barrel by the end of 2021 based on the likelihood that producers would continue to rein in supply.
US crude stockpiles fell by 5.1 million barrels last week to about 482 million barrels, industry group data showed on Tuesday, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a reduction of 913,000 barrels.
Another report from Dubai adds: Iran's average oil exports have been 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) since March, an official from the budget and planning organisation said on Wednesday, defying US sanctions aimed at dropping Tehran's main source of income to zero.
Iran's oil exports have shrunk from more than 2.5 million bpd since the United States withdrew from a nuclear deal with Iran 2018 and reimposed sanctions.
"The average oil sales so far this (Iranian) year have been 600,000 to 700,000 barrels per day," Hamid Pourmohammadi told Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, without providing further details. The Iranian year began on March 20.
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