Oil prices rise amid tepid forecast for U.S. crude supply

NEW YORK, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rose on Tuesday, as The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Tuesday lowered its forecasts for U.S. crude supply for 2019 and 2020.

The EIA projected that U.S. crude oil production will average 12.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2019 and 13 million bpd in 2020, with most of The growth coming from The Permian region of Texas and New Mexico.

The forecasts came lower than The EIA's estimates in February for both 2019 and 2020, according to its Short-term Energy Outlook report released Tuesday.

The EIA also estimated that U.S. crude production averaged 11.9 million bpd in February, down slightly from The January average.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery was up 0.08 U.S. dollar to settle at 56.87 dollars a barrel on The New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery rose 0.09 dollar to close at 66.67 dollars a barrel on The London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem