“Investors’ appetite for risk is still supported by concerns about the scarcity of supplies in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and relief in financial markets worried about the unrest in the banking sector,” said Satoru Yoshida, a commodities analyst at Rakuten Securities.
Oil prices rose after Iraq was forced to stop exporting about 450,000 barrels per day from the northern Iraqi Kurdistan region via Turkey, after a ruling in an arbitration case confirmed that Baghdad’s approval was necessary to ship the oil.
The announcement of First Citizens Bankers Bank Monday that it will take over the deposits and loans of the collapsed Silicon Valley bank raised feelings of optimism about the situation of the banking sector.
price move
Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $78.98 a barrel by 0536 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 52 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $73.72 a barrel.
Prices were also supported by a drawdown in US crude oil inventories last week.
Figures released by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday showed that US crude oil inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ending March 24. Gasoline stocks fell by about 5.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks rose by about 550 thousand barrels.
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