WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil continued its march higher Wednesday, with Brent crude climbing above $75 a barrel as investors remained wary of potential supply disruptions following Tehran's sharp but brief strike in reprisal for Israel's attacks on Lebanon.
Benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 2.8 percent to $75.61 a barrel while WTI crude futures were up 2.7 percent at $71.73.
It is feared that Middle East tensions could escalate and potentially disrupt crude output from the region.
Iran said early today that its missile attack on Israel was finished barring further provocation, after a salvo of some 180 ballistic missiles. But Israel and the U.S. promised to retaliate against Tehran's escalation.
The heightened tensions as well as prospects of improved demand following China's stimulus measures announced last week helped offset speculation that Saudi Arabia would increase production soon to win back market share.
Meanwhile, data from the American Petroleum Institute revealed that crude oil inventories in the United States fell by 1.5 million barrels for the week ending September 27, compared with expectations for a drop of 2.1 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories showed a build of 900K barrels for the week, while distillate inventories revealed a 2.7M-barrels draw. Stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub showed a build of 700K barrels.
Markets now await the weekly oil report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) later in the day for further direction.
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