Crude oil advanced as investors Wednesday reassessed the reasons for a drop in futures to a 12-year low.
Brent for February settlement, which expires Thursday, gained 44 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $30.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange at 1:51 p.m. London time.
Iran, the fifth-biggest OPEC member, will increase production by 100,000 barrels a day, or 3.7 percent, a month after sanctions are lifted and by 400,000 in six months, according to median estimate of 12 analysts and economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh pledged to boost output by half a million barrels a day within weeks of the end of sanctions and by the same amount in six months.
U.S. crude inventories rose 234,000 barrels to 482.6 million last week, according to a report Wednesday from the Energy Information Administration.
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