Oil prices rose on Thursday as traders looked beyond a whopping jump in weekly U.S. crude inventories to focus on plummeting fuel stockpiles as the maintenance season for refineries caused an unusual deficit in oil products.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 57 cents, or 1%, at $53.93 per barrel.

U.K. Brent oil closed up 49 cents, or 0.8%, at $59.91.

An easing of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East also didn't keep oil down. Turkey has agreed to a five-day ceasefire in northeast Syria to allow for withdrawal of Kurdish forces, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said after talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

U.S. oil inventories soared for the latest week, rising much more than the market was expecting, the Energy Information Administration said.

Crude stockpiles jumped 9.3 million barrels last week, the EIA said. That compared to analysts’ expectations for a rise of about 2.9 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

But Gasoline inventories fell by 2.56 million barrels, versus expectations for a drawdown of about 1.21 million barrels. Distillate inventories fell by 3.8 million barrels, with analysts predicting a decline of about 2.4 million barrels.

Source : Investing.com