Brent crude rose for the third time in four sessions as China’s economic growth beat analysts’ estimates, increasing demand for oil. West Texas Intermediate also climbed.
Futures climbed as much as 1.1 percent in London. China’s gross domestic product rose 7.3 percent in the July-September period from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Beijing. While that exceeded the 7.2 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of analysts, it was also the slowest expansion since the first quarter of 2009. The country’s oil demand increased by 7.1 percent in September, more than double the growth rate in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Oil is paring its collapse into a bear market as banks including BNP Paribas SA and Bank of America Corp. predict the rout may be over. They’re in part counting on the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce supply as the U.S. pumps the most oil in almost three decades andRussia’s output rises to a near a post-Soviet record.
“China at least didn’t surprise negatively, which was important after prices were pushed down last week on poor macro figures and the market was fearing more this week,” Thina Saltvedt, an oil analyst at Oslo-based Nordea Markets, who forecasts Brent climbing to $90 a barrel in the next two weeks, said by phone. “As long as there are no setbacks on the financial side, prices will continue to move higher.”
Brent for December settlement was 47 cents higher at $85.87 a barrel at 11:48 a.m. on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. It earlier climbed as high as $86.35. The volume of all futures traded was 7 percent above the 100-day average for the time of day. Front-month prices have decreased 22 percent this year.
China Growth
WTI for December delivery, the most-actively traded, was at $82.34 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 43 cents. The November contract, which expires today, gained 48 cents to $83.19. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $3.52 to WTI on ICE for December, compared with a close of $3.49 yesterday.
China’s apparent oil demand, calculated as refinery output plus net imports of refined petroleum, rose to 10.35 million barrels a day in September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Chinese refiners processed 42 million metric tons of crude in September, a 9.1 percent gain from a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics in Beijing. The country’s purchasing managers’ index will be published Oct. 23.
U.S. Stockpiles
U.S. gasoline inventories probably declined to 204.2 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 17, according to the median projection in the Bloomberg survey of eight analysts. Distillate supplies, which include heating oil and diesel, are projected to have slid by 1.5 million.
Crude stockpiles are forecast to have increased by 3 million barrels to 373.6 million, the survey shows. Production climbed to 8.95 million a day previously, the most since June 1985, said the EIA, the Energy Department’s statistical arm.
The American Petroleum Institute in Washington will publish separate supply data today. The industry group collects information on a voluntary basis from operators of refineries, bulk terminals and pipelines, while the government requires that reports be filed with the EIA.
Total SA’s Chief Executive Officer, Christophe de Margerie, was killed when his airplane struck a snowplow on a Moscow runway, ending a career in which he oversaw the biggest expansion of oil reserves at the French energy giant in at least 15 years. The crash also killed three crew members, Total said in a statement. The driver of the snowplow was drunk, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on its website.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rupert Rowling in London at rrowling@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaric Nightingale at anightingal1@bloomberg.netJames Herron, Rachel Graham
