Crude oil futures rose on Wednesday after government data confirmed that oil inventories fell for a ninth week in a row, according to a Bloomberg MarketWatch report.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 29 cents, or 0.7%, to end trading at $44.94 a barrel. The contract, which expired at Wednesday’s finish, was trading at $44.16 before the supply data. September WTI crude, which became the front-month contract, settled at $45.75, up 30 cents, or 0.7%.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, September Brent crude added 51 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $47.17 a barrel.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration revealed that domestic crude supplies declined by 2.3 million barrels for the week ending July 15. The stockpile dip also matched the decline reported by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August natural gas dropped 7 cents, or 2.6%, to settle at $2.658 per million British thermal units.
