RIYADH: Oil prices rose on Wednesday after plunging more than 2 percent in the previous session as reports of falling US crude and fuel inventories refocused investors on robust demand in the world’s top consumer of the commodity. Brent crude climbed by 40 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $81.17 a barrel by 10:30 a.m. Saudi time. US West Texas Intermediate crude gained 48 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $77.55 a barrel. According to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday, US crude oil stocks fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ending April 21. The sources said the API reported that gasoline inventories fell 1.9 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels. Official stockpiles data from the US government is due on Wednesday. US crude oil stockpiles have been falling since the middle of March as refineries have increased their runs to produce more gasoline ahead of the peak summer demand period that starts in May. Eni launches LNG production in Congo On Tuesday, Italian energy group Eni and the Republic of the Congo’s government launched a $5 billion gas liquefaction project expected to reach a production capacity of 3 million tons per year in 2025. Developing the liquefied natural gas capacity is part of Italy’s strategy to cut dependence on Russia since it invaded Ukraine. In August, Eni acquired a floating liquefaction facility to produce and export LNG from Congo and said it aimed for the facility to be operational in the second half of 2023. It is part of Eni’s operations of the natural gas development project in the Marine XII block that will supply both the international and local markets, meeting Congo’s electricity needs. Congo’s hydrocarbons minister, Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua, said the project would make the African country an exporter of LNG for the first time. “This should place the Congo among the largest oil and gas producers in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said at an inauguration ceremony in Brazzaville, the country’s capital. Eni’s managing director for the country, Mirko Araldi, said the project aligned with the company’s goal to stop routine gas flaring, which is said to contribute to global warming. Court allows Greenpeace to challenge UK oil, gas licensing round Greenpeace’s legal challenge against the British government over its invitation to oil and gas explorers last year to apply for licenses in the North Sea can proceed to a full hearing, a judge at London’s High Court has ruled. Last year, the UK held its first oil and gas exploration licensing round since 2019, with the government saying it was looking to boost domestic hydrocarbon output as Europe weans itself off Russian fuel after energy prices spiked. Greenpeace says the government and the oil and gas regulator North Sea Transition Authority should consider the emissions from burning the oil and gas produced due to the licensing round rather than merely the emissions from the extraction process. “I am delighted that there will be a full hearing,” said Kate Harrison, Greenpeace’s lawyer, adding: “Greenpeace says that the Secretary of State should have assessed the emissions from the consumption of the new gas and oil he was giving the green light to and the lawfulness of his decision not to will be fully aired.” In a written argument, the defendants’ lawyers had said the government believed “there was an insufficient causal connection between the extraction of oil and gas and the downstream emissions arising from its consumption to enable a meaningful assessment of the environmental effects of the latter.” (With input from Reuters)