LONDON: Oil prices rose on Thursday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) joined producer group Opec in forecasting strong growth in global oil demand and as cold winter weather disrupted US crude output while the government reported a big weekly draw in crude inventories.

       Oil traders also worried about geopolitical risks in the Middle East. Brent crude futures gained 66 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $78.54 a barrel by 11:25 a.m. EST (1625 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 98 cents, or 1.4pc, to $73.54.

       The US Energy Infor-mation Admini-stra-tion repo-rted a larger than expected draw in crude inventories of 2.5 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 12.“The fear of another large build of total inventories has not materialized, modestly supporting pri-ces,” said Giovanni Staun-ovo, analyst at UBS.

       The IEA monthly report said it expects oil demand to grow by 1.24 million barrels per day in 2024, up 180,000bpd from its previous projection.

       Opec said it expected demand growth of 2.25mbpd this year, unchanged from its forecast in December. It also said oil demand is expected to rise by a robust 1.85mbpd in 2025 to 106.21mbpd.

       The IEA’s executive director, Fatih Birol, told the Reuters Global Mar-kets Forum he exp-ects oil markets to be “comfortable and balanced” this year despite Middle East tensions, rising supply and slowing demand growth.

       Published in Dawn, January 19th, 2024