SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices rose on Wednesday as industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell last week.
Brent crude futures rose 34 cents to $68.73 a barrel by 0613 GMT, after initially gaining as much as 23 cents. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 40 cents to $65.20, after climbing as much as 28 cents in early trade.
The benchmarks were choppy on Wednesday with both swinging between positive and negative territory during Asian trade.
The market has been drifting lower over the past few days as more European countries pause COVID-19 inoculations due to concerns over possible serious side effects, which could slow a recovery in fuel demand.
Trading in oil futures is now as heavy as it was in the first months of the COVID-19 crisis with oil bulls and bears rushing to hedge against jolts in prices.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 1 million barrels in the week to March 12, according to trading sources citing data from the American Petroleum Institute.
“The market was wrong-footed but still pleasantly surprised after U.S. oil stockpiles unexpectedly fell last week,” Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist at Axi, told Reuters.
At the same time, gasoline stocks fell less than expected, declining by 926,000 barrels, compared with estimates for a draw of 3 million barrels.
The narrower weekly draw in gasoline stocks signaled that refiner activity was normalizing after a big freeze in Texas smothered production in the previous month, Innes said in a note.
The historic icy spell in the southern U.S. states knocked out nearly a quarter of the country’s refining capacity last month.
Traders will be looking for confirmation of the drawdown in crude stocks in official data due from the Energy Information Administration due on Wednesday.
