Oil up as it continues clawing back from earlier losses

Oil prices were up on Thursday morning in Asia as they continued to claw back from massive losses from the beginning of the week.

Brent oil futures rose 0.87% to $20.95 by 9:49 PM ET (2:49AM GMT) and WTI futures jumped 3.12% to $14.21.

Oil surged up to 40% during the previous session as US President Donald Trump tweeted an instruction to the US Navy “to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea” overnight, and short sellers covered their positions.

But the black liquid lost some of its gains as investors digested a rise in crude oil stockpiles for the 13th consecutive week. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a 15-million-barrel build for the past week.

It had reported a 19.2-million-barrel build for the week before.

Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute (API) announced a 13.226-million-barrel build for the past week only a day before.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to sap demand, the supply glut that triggered Monday’s massive losses continues to loom in investors’ minds.

Per Magnus Nysveen, Rystad Energy senior partner and head of analysis, warned that the situation in the oil markets was going to get worse in an interview with CNBC.

The world is running out of places to store oil,” said Nysveen. “When the supply and demand balance is positive or negative, then you can build or draw from storage. But when the storage gets full, then there is no buffer for this very strong imbalance that we’re seeing.”

By Investing.com: https://www.investing.com/news/commodities-news/oilupas-it-continuesclawing-backfromearlier-losses-2148496