Brent crude futures rose 38 cents.
Oil prices went up a little bit in early Asian trading on Thursday because of worries about supply and a possible rail stoppage in the United States, which uses the most crude oil in the world.
By 00:13 GMT, Brent crude futures had gone up 38 cents, or 0.4%, to $94.48 per barrel, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude had gone up 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $88.94 per barrel.
The dollar index fell by 0.14 percent on Wednesday, reversing its gains from the previous session. This made holders of other currencies more likely to buy dollar-denominated goods like crude oil.
Related: Oil prices slowly go up because the world’s demand looks strong.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday that it expects a large number of people to switch from gas to oil to heat their homes. It said this will happen on average at a rate of 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) from October 2022 to March 2023, which is twice as much as a year ago. This, along with the fact that most people thought supply would grow slowly, also helped the market.
The market is also helped by the fact that a labour dispute on the U.S. rails is making it more likely that the trains will stop running. Three unions are trying to come to an agreement on a new contract that could affect rail shipments, which are important for getting oil and other goods to where they need to go.
Sources familiar with plant operations say that TotalEnergies SE (TTEF.PA) cut production at its 238,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery because two sulphur recovery units (SRUs) were scheduled to shut down on Wednesday.