Crude oil managed to rise and go beyond $82 per barrel after the OPEC officials confirmed that demand is steadily increasing and the US Federal Reserve revealed that it would continue to maintain lower interest rates for an "extended period" in order to help the country's economic recovery.

For the second consecutive day, oil managed to advance after the Federal Open Market Committee resounded its promise to maintain the main interest rate at near zero value. As was confirmed by the Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, demand for crude oil has good chances of growing by about 1 million barrels a day over the second half of the year, with OPEC leaving the production quotas unchanged.

Michael Fitzpatrick, Vice President of Energy at MF Global, New York, said that OPEC "is not trying to stem the rise of prices by clamping down" on production, and this is supportive for the markets on the whole.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for April delivery managed to add 88 cents, or 1.1%, to hit $82.58 per barrel in morning trading.

Over the past year, prices of crude oil have increased by a whopping 68%.