By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, with continuously shrinking U.S. crude and fuel supplies contributing to the brightening fuel demand outlook.

Brent oil futures inched up 0.05% to $75.23 by 1:17 AM ET (5:17 AM GMT) and WTI futures were steady at $73.08.

U.S. crude oil supply data from the U.S Energy Information Administration said stockpiles fell for a fifth week, the longest run since January 2021.

The data showed a draw of 7.641 million barrels for the week ended Jun. 18. The draw was bigger than the 3.942-million-barrel draw in forecasts prepared by Investing.com as well as the 7.355-million-barrel draw recorded during the previous week.

Gasoline inventories also recorded a bigger-than-expected draw of 2.93 million barrels

Crude oil supply from the American Petroleum Institute released the day before showed a draw of 7.199 million barrels for the week ending Jun. 18.

The continuous draws are indicative of a market that is tightening as the U.S., China and parts of Europe continue their economic recovery from COVID-19.

The global COVID-19 vaccine rollout has also played a part in this accelerated recovery, which in turn led to increased fuel consumption and a drain in stockpiles that had built up as COVID-19 brought lockdowns and halted travel in early 2020.

Investors now await an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) meeting. The cartel will discuss its production policy for August when it meets in the following week, with some member states reportedly looking to vote for an output increase.

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