Oil prices rallied on Wednesday after industry data rebounded overnight as U.S. oil stocks plummeted, adding to demand sentiment.
Brent crude rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $79.10 a barrel as of 0441 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 5 cents, or 0.07%, to $76.03 a barrel.
Both contracts are trading near one-month highs, aided by strength in global equities.
Asset classes, from oil to equities, have rebounded losses from late November despite the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has investors worried.
American Petroleum Institute data showed US crude inventories fell 3.1 million barrels in the week ended Dec. Gasoline inventories registered a lower-than-expected decline of 319,000 barrels, while distillate stocks dropped by 716,000 barrels compared with hopes of a 200,000 barrels drop.
Weekly data from the US Energy Information Administration will be released later Wednesday.
Oil prices are bolstered by a lack of supply this month due to maintenance issues at some major oil producers and oil field closures.
On Tuesday, it was said that Russia is unlikely to reach its May pre-pandemic oil production target due to a lack of spare production capacity, but that this could only be achieved later in the year.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that by May, production is expected to reach pre-pandemic levels seen in April 2020, or about 11.33 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil and gas condensate.
Investors are waiting for the OPEC+ meeting on January 4, when the OPEC+ alliance will decide whether to continue with the 400,000 bpd production increase planned in February.
OPEC+ has stuck to its plans to increase production for January despite Omicron at its last meeting.