The price of Brent crude oil increased above $86 a barrel today ahead of the Federal Reserve statement on the US monetary policy.
Reuters reported that Brent crude for December increased 30 cents to $86.33 a barrel and US crude was up 45 cents at $81.87 a barrel.
The Federal Reserve is expected to close its two-year-old bond-buying stimulus programme, dubbed quantitative easing three.
The buoyant stock markets in Europe and Asia have also supported the prices as the US stocks ended more than 1% higher on Tuesday.
A private sector report has unveiled that US consumer confidence increased in October to its highest level since October 2007, following improvement in the job market views.
Data by the American Petroleum Institute (API) has revealed that US gasoline and distillate stocks declined by 3.7 million barrels and 3 million barrels respectively.
US crude inventories increased 3.2 million barrels last week, slightly below analysts’ expectations of a 3.4 million barrel rise.
The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due to unveil its data on oil stocks later today.
Major investment banks have cut their forecasts for Brent following sharp declines in the recent weeks.
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