Oil futures traded higher on Wednesday afternoon as worries eased following analysts’ predictions supported by a record travel holiday weekend, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude oil added 83 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $47.43 a barrel. Earlier, prices reached a low of $45.92 a barrel but managed to rally by the end of the day.
September Brent crude, the global benchmark, tacked on 84 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $48.80 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Late Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute reported that domestic crude oil supplies declined by 6.7 million barrels for the week ending July 1. The U.S. Energy Information Administration report will be issued on Thursday due to the Independence Day holiday with analysts predicting a drop of 2.6 million barrels.
Meanwhile, August natural gas rose 2.2 cents, or 0.8%, to end trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $2.786 per million British thermal unit.