Oil prices rose on Wednesday and Brent rose for the fifth consecutive session as falling stocks and a recovery in demand encouraged investors.

Brent crude rose 69 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.68 a barrel as of 0200 GMT, after rising 1.6% on Tuesday.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $72.78 after rising 1.7% in the previous session.

Traders go overboard on crude oil prices, and even non-energy traders bet that oil prices will continue to rise. The outlook for crude oil is very strong, with demand which is quite likely to return to pre-COVID levels in the second half of next year following recovery in the US, Europe and Asia.

According to some market sources, US oil inventories fell by 8.5 million barrels in the week of June 11, according to figures from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday. However, according to analysts, crude oil inventories were expected to drop by about 3.3 million barrels last week, for the fourth week in a row.

Official government data will be released on Wednesday.

Managers of major oil traders said on Tuesday they expect prices to stay above $70 a barrel and return to pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2022.

It is said that oil could trade between $70 and $80 for the remainder of this year, with the expectation that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) will maintain production restrictions.

Even if the US rejoins the nuclear deal and lifts sanctions on Tehran, even the return of Iranian exports is considered unlikely to change the bullish trend.