WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended December 16.
Hopes about China relaxing some of its Covid-19 curbs contributed as well to the jump in oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $2.06 at $78.29 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were up $2.45 or 3.06% at $82.44 a barrel a little while ago.
Data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell by 5.89 million barrels last week, more than 3.5 times the estimated decline of 1.66 million barrels.
The EIA data also showed that gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.53 million barrels last week, higher than an expected increase of 2.14 million barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute's report on Tuesday showed a decrease of 3.1 million barrels of crude oil in U.S. inventories last week, as against an expected drop of 1.7 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories rose by about 4.5 million barrels, while distillate stocks increased by 828,000 barrels, the API data showed.
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