Oil enjoys moderate gains on US inventory drop

Oil prices on both sides of the Atlantic ticked higher in Asia after the data released overnight showed a drop in the US crude stockpiles.

At the time of writing, WTI Oil was trading 0.22% higher at $49.88/barrel. Meanwhile, Brent was trading around $53/barrel.

US oil inventories dropped 2.4 million barrels in the week that ended on Dec. 2. This was higher than the expectation of a 1 million draw.

However, gains are being capped on skepticism regarding the OPEC deal. There is growing fear in the market that the OPEC members may not respect the deal, while the Shale producers may produce more in response to the higher oil price.