On September 8, London-traded crude benchmark Brent surged 3.3%. At 16:20 GMT, Brent futures were trading at $49.62 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Oil rallied in response to the government data on a surprise drop in US crude inventories. The US Energy Information Administration reported that US crude stocks sank a whopping 14.5 million barrels in the week ended September 2, the largest weekly drawdown since January 1999.
Besides, oil received a boost from comments by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. On September 5, he stated that current oil prices are unfairly undervalued.
On the same day, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China’s Hangzhou energy ministers of Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed on a strategic energy partnership. The two top global oil producers decided to cooperate in world oil markets, saying they will not act immediately but could limit output in the future.
Following the common statement by Moscow and Riyadh, Brent crude jumped almost 5%.
