Though global oil supplies are still relatively ample and some skepticism remains about OPEC's willingness to go through with the 1.2 million barrel-a-day reduction it announced late last week, traders were betting on tightening supplies going into the winter, when fuel demand ramps up.
Crude stocks declined last week largely because of a 936,000-barrel decrease in imports from the previous week.
But prices have bounced back up above US$60 a barrel after reports this week that so far, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran have begun informing customers that they are going through with the cuts, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Meanwhile in Nigeria Wednesday, angry villagers stormed and seized three Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil platforms in the Niger Delta, forcing oil production to be shut down at each one, a spokesman for the oil company said.
Royal Dutch Shell officials declined to say how much oil had been cut off after the platforms were attacked. Attacks by armed militants in Nigeria have cut more than a quarter of the country's oil exports since the beginning of this year.
