Oil rallied on Thursday

International benchmarks for oil prices continue to advance on Thursday (18 August) due to continued talk of cooperation and potential production caps from the world’s largest exporters, including both the OPEC and Russia. Besides, EIA data on Wednesday show a large drop in US crude and gasoline stockpiles also support the sentiment. However, many analysts are very skeptic about any production cap agreement this September as OPEC and Russia have failed once back in April. Weaker US dollar also attributed to the recent rally.

WTI closed at $48.22/barrel (+$1.43) September delivery    

Brent closed at $50.89/barrel (+$1.04) October delivery