Oil futures settled at their highest level on Wednesday in nearly a week and ahead of the latest governmental updates on U.S. crude oil supplies, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
October West Texas Intermediate crude added 67 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $45.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, November Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 72 cents, or 1.5%, to end trading at $47.98 a barrel.
A monthly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed higher 2016 forecasts for U.S. crude production and prices. The EIA forecasted an average price of $41.92 a barrel for WTI this year, up from a previous estimate of $41.16 a barrel. Brent crude is predicted to average $42.54 a barrel this year, up from the $41.60 mentioned in August’s forecast. The government agency also raised its U.S. oil production estimate for 2016 by 0.4% to 8.77 million barrels a day, and for 2017 by 2.5% to 8.51 million barrels a day.
Meanwhile, October natural gas fell 4.1 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $2.676 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
