Oil soars

Singapore: Oil markets rose on Thursday, lifted by a fourth straight weekly fall in US crude inventories, though climbing output capped prices well below the 2015 highs reached earlier this week.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $56.77 a barrel, up 17 cents, or 0.3 percent from their last settlement. Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $62.84 a barrel, up 40 cents, or 0.6 percent from their last close.

US crude oil stockpiles fell by 5.1 million barrels in the week to Dec 8, the fourth consecutive week of decline, to 442.99 million barrels, the lowest since October 2015. Traders said reports that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other non-OPEC producers may be planning output cuts beyond the current timeframe which sees curbs until the end of 2018, also supported Brent.