Oil prices are rising today after a sharp drop the day before on the data on the unexpected growth of inventories in the U.S. and information about plans to release crude from strategic reserves by countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Traders today assess the situation in China, where quarantine measures designed to contain the spread of COVID-19 remain in place. According to the consulting company Kpler, tankers with about 22 million barrels of oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela are piled up in ports off the coast of China due to restrictions.

The cost of June futures for Brent on the London exchange ICE Futures by 8:10 Moscow time was $102.73 per barrel, which is $1.66 (1.64%) higher than the price at the close of the previous session. At the end of trading on Wednesday, these contracts fell in price by $5.57 (5.2%) to $101.07 per barrel.

The price of WTI oil futures for May at the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) amounted to $97.62 per barrel by this time, which is $1.39 (1.44%) above the final value of the previous session. On Wednesday, those contracts were down $5.73 (5.6%) to $96.23 a barrel.

“Asian buyers seem to be taking the opportunity to buy cheaper oil,” said chief oil analyst at Oanda Asia Pacific Pte. Jeffrey Halley, quoted by Bloomberg news agency. “But the war continues, sanctions against Russia are getting tougher, and because of this structural deficit in the market remains, even despite the release of oil from strategic reserves by a number of countries,” the expert notes.

On the eve of the IEA countries agreed on the release of 60 million barrels from strategic reserves in addition to the 180 million barrels that the U.S. intends to provide.

Meanwhile, the data of the U.S. Department of Energy, published on Wednesday, unexpectedly showed an increase in oil reserves in the country last week (by 2.42 million barrels). Experts surveyed by Bloomberg expected an average decrease of 2.8 million barrels, respondents of S&P Global Commodity Insights – by 1.85 million barrels.

Inventories at the terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma, where NYMEX-traded crude is stored, rose by 1.7 million barrels. Oil production in the USA increased by 100 thousand barrels per day (bpd) compared to the previous week – up to 11.8 mln bpd.