Buoyed by a tighter market due to the continuous efforts lead by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut supplies in order to balance the market and to prop-up oil prices, prices of oil rose on Thursday.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark managed to rise by approximately 8 cents and was seen settling at $79.36 per barrel, which hovers near $80 per barrel, a level which was not seen since late 2014; this was due to a steady increase in demand due to tensions looming in the Middle East.
In accordance to this, U.S. bank: Morgan Stanley mentioned that it had raised its Brent price forecast to $90 per barrel by 2020, this was due to a firm increase in demand.
Meanwhile, the United States West Texas Intermediate settled at $71.71 per barrel, which was 0.3% or 22 cents higher from their previous close. The stance of oil prices were due to the tighter market, followed by the sudden decline in U.S. crude inventories. According to records, U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.4 million barrels in the week to May 11 to 432.34 million barrels.