Oil prices rise to $83.78 a barrel

Baghdad-INA

 
Oil prices rose on Thursday, following a larger-than-expected drawdown in US gasoline and distillate inventories.
 
Prices were also boosted by expectations that higher natural gas prices with the approach of winter would lead to a shift to oil to meet heating demand.
 
Brent crude futures rose 60 cents, or 0.72 percent, to $83.78 a barrel.
 
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 54 cents, or 0.67%, to $80.98 a barrel.
 
The American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Wednesday that US crude stocks rose by 5.2 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 8, but gasoline stocks fell by 4.6 million barrels and distillate stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels.