Crude oil futures ticked higher during mid-morning Asian trade Oct. 15, as positive data from the American Petroleum Institute and an increase in China’s and India’s refinery activities stoked bullish market sentiment despite tightening coronavirus restrictions. At 10.45 am Singapore time (0245 GMT), ICE Brent December crude futures were up 6 cents/b (0.14%) from the Oct. 14 settle to $43.38/b, while the NYMEX November light sweet crude contract was up 4 cents/b (0.10%) at $41.08/b. Both international crude markets had jumped 2.05% and 2.09% to settle at $43.32/b and $41.04/b, respectively, on Oct. 14. The uptick in prices can be attributed to positive API data released late Oct. 14, which showed that US crude inventories had declined 5.4 million barrels to 495.4 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 9. This large draw […]