By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was up Thursday morning in Asia, continuing an upward trend as data showed a decline in U.S. crude and fuel inventories last week. Investor fears that fuel demand was being slowed by rising COVID-19 levels were eased.

They were at 9:53 ET (7:53 GMT), up 0.4% to $79.60, and at $76.95 they gained 0.51%.

China, the world’s biggest oil importer, continues to battle an outbreak in the western city of Xi’an.

U.S. government data has shown that oil stocks have fallen and the price of oil is at its highest in one month. Wednesday’s from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed of 3.576 million barrels for the week to Dec. 24.

Investing.com forecasts a draw of 3.233 million barrels, but a draw of 4.715 millibarrels was made last week.

The draw was 3.090 Million barrels.

According to the EIA, gasoline stocks fell by 1.459 Million barrels.

John Kilduff, a partner in Again Capital LLC said that “it’s draws across all the board which support.” “We continue to climb up on domestic production. This is good.”

Libya, Ecuador, and Nigeria have declared forces majeures in oil production to address maintenance issues. They also shut down oilfields. This gives the oil a major boost.

Alexander Novak, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, also stated that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+), has resisted U.S. calls for an increase in output because it wants to give the market clear direction and adhere to its policy of gradual production increases.

Investors will be watching to see the outcome of the OPEC+ Meeting on January 4. This meeting will determine whether the cartel continues with its plan to increase production by 400,000 barrels per hour in February 2022. OPEC+ had decided that January would see an increase in production despite rising prices for the omicronCOVID-19.