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Wednesday April 24, 2024

Oil up

By REUTERS
January 24, 2018

Singapore : Oil prices rose on Tuesday, lifted by healthy economic growth as well as the ongoing supply restraint by a group of exporters around OPEC and Russia.

Spot Brent crude futures were at $69.41 at 0409 GMT, up 38 cents, or 0.55 percent, from their last close, not far off the Jan. 15 three-year high of $70.37 a barrel.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $63.99 a barrel, up 42 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last settlement.

WTI hit its highest since December 2014 on Jan. 16 at $64.89 a barrel. Traders said oil markets were generally well supported by healthy economic growth.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday revised upward its forecast for world economic growth in 2018 and 2019, to 3.9 percent for both 2018 and 2019, a 0.2 percentage point increase from its last update in October.