Oil prices rebound despite growing inventories

Oil prices rebounded strongly Wednesday although government report showed that U.S. crude stockpile continued to add last week.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department's statistical arm, Wednesday released its report covering U.S. crude supplies of the week ending on Feb. 20. U.S. crude stockpiles increased 8.4 million barrels to 434.1 million, 71.7 million barrels more than a year earlier.

U.S. crude production reached 9.285 million barrels a day last week, the highest level since 1983.

Oil prices were boosted by the optimistic remarks from Ali al- Naimi, Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister. He said on Wednesday that oil demand is growing and markets are calm. "Markets are calm now, demand is growing," Naimi said on a conference in the port city of Jizan, southwest Saudi Arabia.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to maintain its collective output quota at 30 million barrels a day at the Nov. 27 meeting in Vienna. There was no sign that the group would cut production in response to the slump.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery gained 1.71 U.S. dollars to settle at 50.99 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange,while Brent crude for April delivery moved up 2.97 dollars to close at 61.63 dollars a barrel.