Oil Futures Climb Higher on Wednesday

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Crude oil futures continued their ascent on Wednesday, soaring above the key $50 benchmark while posting their highest close in several months, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

July West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 87 cents, or 1.7%, to end trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $51.23 a barrel.

August Brent crude added $1.07, or 2.1%, to end trade on London’s ICE Futures Exchange at $52.51 a barrel, marking its best close since October.

Oil futures continued to climb upon news of yet another militant attack on Nigeria’s oil industry and the latest American Petroleum Institute report reflected that the U.S. crude oil supply fell by 3.6 million barrels.

Prices rose as the U.S. Energy Information Administration report issued on Wednesday revealed that oil inventories dropped by 3.2 million barrels.

“Continued supply disruptions in Nigeria as well as a draw in U.S. crude oil inventories and increased Chinese oil imports” were supporting prices on Wednesday, said Michael Poulsen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management.

Natural gas futures dropped 0.6 cent, or 0.2%, to end trade at $2.468 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.