singapore dec 16 reuters  oil prices rose on thursday as us implied consumer petroleum demand surged to a record high in the worlds top oil consumer even as the omicron variant of coronavirus threatens to dent oil consumption globally a signal by the us federal reserve to tackle inflation before it derails the us economy also boosted prices brent crude oil futures rose by 80 cents or 11 to 7468 a barrel by 0116 gmt while us west texas intermediate wti crude futures increased by 88 cents or 12 to 7175 despite the current virus surge the weekly eia oil inventory report showed demand for petroleum products hit a record high crude exports bounced back and national crude stocks posted a largerthanexpected draw said edward moya senior analyst at oanda this current omicron wave may lead to limited restrictive measures across the us but lockdowns that happened during the peak of the pandemic will not be revisited us crude inventories sank by 46 million barrels in the week to dec 10 data from the us energy information administration showed that was more than double expectations in a reuters poll for a 21 millionbarrel drop product supplied by refineries a proxy for demand surged in the most recent week to 232 million barrels per day bpd due to gains in gasoline diesel and other refined products analysts said the rise reflects both expectations for a surge of people traveling for the holidays and the loosening of supplychain bottlenecks that has more trucks on the road delivering goods read more meanwhile the federal reserve said it would end its pandemicera bond purchases in march and begin raising interest rates as unemployment remains low and inflation has climbed read more britain and south africa reported record daily covid19 cases with omicron spreading rapidly while many firms across the globe are now asking employees to work from home which could also limit oil demand read more