Oil prices continued to rise this week by reaching their latest 13-month high at the start of the Asian session, as extreme cold weather in Texas affected crude oil production.
The benchmark Brent crude rose 1.5%, to $ 65.27 a barrel, touching its highest level since January 20, 2020. Meanwhile, US WTI crude futures rose 1.2%, to $ 61.90 a barrel, the highest since January 8, 2020.
Both benchmarks rose around $ 1 on Wednesday and have risen more than 6% since last Thursday's close.
Oil prices soared above $ 60 a barrel earlier this week after extreme cold weather in Texas and the surrounding area has caused power outages and burdened production activity.
Meanwhile, the latest data published by the American Petroleum Institute (API) shows a significant decline in US crude oil supply also gives support for oil prices to rise higher today.
US crude oil stocks fell 5.8 million barrels last week after registering a decline of 3.5 million the previous week.
Oil prices have been rising in recent weeks in hopes of a US boost and global supply is declining, largely due to production cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its ally, OPEC +.
However, according to the latest statement from OPEC + sources, the group is likely to start easing supply reduction commitments after April as prices begin to recover.
