Singapore — Oil prices rose to their highest for 2019 on Monday after data showed refinery processing in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, climbed to a record in 2018, despite a slowing economy in 2018. Prices are further being supported by supply cuts led by producer cartel Opec, analysts said. International Brent crude oil futures were at $62.94 a barrel at 4.04am GMT, up 24c, or 0.4%, from their last close. Brent earlier rose above $63 for the first time in 2019. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $54.05 a barrel, up 25c, or 0.5%. It was the first time this year that WTI rose above $54 a barrel. Traders said the price rises came after data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed crude oil refinery throughput climbed to record 603.57 million tonnes in 2018, or 12.12-million barrels a day, up 6.8% from the previous year. The strong oil demand figures came despite China’s 2018 economic growth slowing to the weakest in 28 y...
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