Oil prices nudged up on Thursday for the fourth day in a row, touching its 2 &1/2 weeks high with rising demand on U.S. oil amid the chilly winter weather in USA.

Brent crude futures advanced by 1.4% at $1.17 per barrel, maintaining its earnings from the earlier session at 2.7%. While WTI futures rose 1.4% at $79.40 per barrel.

The two main gauges edged up yesterday post the release of the U.S. crude inventories taht slumped beyond forecasts, recording a slip of 5.89 million barrels.

The drop in stockpiles made sense as the appetite for the heating oil is currently high as it is needed to cope with the chilly weather in the U.S.

There are also projections that the demand for the jet fuel will surge amid the holiday season flights.

The raise of Covid-19 infected cases raised more concerns on the demand and worries over the probability of a slump in the economy worldwide.

As a senior World Health Organization official announced yesterday that China could be encountering an issue to keep track on the number of infected Covid-19 cases, due to data shortage from the country's side.