Traders let it ride on Tuesday, rewarded with a surge in crude oil future prices as the American Petroleum Institute again confirmed a supply decrease of 5.1 million barrels, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
July West Texas Intermediate crude added 54 cents, or 1.1%, to close out trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $48.62 a barrel.
July Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained 26 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $48.61 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange.
While the API report proved favorable, other analysts project a crude inventory drop of 3.3 million barrels. In addition, the U.S. Energy Information Administration report is expected on Wednesday.
“Higher demand versus lower supply means higher prices in the end,” said Nico Pantelis, head of research at Secular Investor.
Meanwhile, June natural gas tumbled 7.5 cents, or 3.7%, finishing at a five-week low of $1.98 per million British thermal units.