Brent oil exceeds $72 for first time since November

Oil prices rose for a second day on signs of strong demand from refineries in China amid tightening supply as producers curtail output and as oil inventories in the U.S. fell unexpectedly.

Brent crude oil futures rose 29 cents (0.4%) to $72.01 a barrel by 0657 GMT. Brent gained as much 0.5%  to $72.10 a barrel, the highest since Nov. 8 and the highest this year.

WTI crude futures were at $64.49 per barrel, up 44 cents, or 0.7% from their previous settlement, Reuters reported.

China’s refinery throughput in March rose 3.2% from a year earlier to 53.04 million tonnes, or 12.49 mln bpd, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

An unexpected fall in U.S. crude inventories also supported higher oil prices. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended April 12 to 452.7 million, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 1.7 million barrels, according to data from the American Petroleum Institute (API).