Oil prices rose on Thursday to continue their third consecutive day of gains, with US crude hitting a two-week high, especially after US trade inventories fell for the fifth week in a row.

By 0815 GMT, US crude rose to $ 71.10 a barrel from the opening level of $ 70.95, recording a high of $ 71.33 since September 4 and a low of $ 70.79.

Brent crude oil rose to $ 79.50 per barrel from the opening level of $ 79.41 and recorded a high of $ 79.80 and a low of $ 79.25.

US crude rose 2.3% on Wednesday, its second consecutive daily gain since September 11, after the US Energy Agency’s weekly report, and Brent crude rose 0.7%.

The US Energy Agency announced on Wednesday that the country’s trade inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels in the week ending September 14, and experts forecast a decline of about 2.7 million barrels, the fifth weekly decline in a row.

According to the data, total US commercial inventories fell to 394 million barrels, the lowest level since February 2015, in a positive sign of demand levels in the world’s largest oil consumer.

For US production, the agency announced last week’s rise of 100,000 barrels per day, the first weekly rise in a month, bringing the total to its record level of 11 million barrels per day.

On the other hand, OPEC oil ministers are scheduled to meet with producers of non-OPEC countries on Sunday in Algeria to discuss compliance with previously defined production policies.

Some sources told Reuters that no immediate action was being planned for the production policy, and the meeting would discuss how to participate in increasing levels of production as previously agreed.