Oil rises on China’s pledge to support economy and dwindling supply Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) – Global oil prices rose on Wednesday on China’s pledge to support economic growth, Russian supply cuts and a weekly decline in U.S. stockpiles.

Crude futures were up nine cents, or 0.1 percent, at $79.72 a barrel by 0010 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $75.75 a barrel.

China’s National Development and Reform Planning Commission on Tuesday pledged to implement policies to “strengthen and expand” consumption as consumers’ purchasing power continues to weaken in the world’s second-largest economy.

Russia will cut its oil exports by 2.1 million tonnes in the third quarter, the Russian Energy Ministry said, with a planned voluntary export cut of 500,000 barrels per day in August.

“Crude rose amid signs of further tightening in the market. Russia appears to be sticking to its pledge to cut supplies,” ANZ Research said in a note to clients on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil, gasoline and distillate inventories all fell last week, with crude inventories falling by about 800,000 barrels, the American Petroleum Institute reported on Tuesday, citing data from the American Petroleum Institute.

According to the ANZ note, the market is awaiting the weekly inventory report from the US Energy Information Administration, which will show a decline in US crude oil inventories.

(Prepared by Mahmoud Abdel-Kawad for Arab Bulletin)