Crude oil stocks across the U.S. dropped higher than analysts predicted and it led to a more than 1% jump in crude oil prices on Wednesday.
At the same time, the drop in U.S. crude inventories came as investors considered the potential impact from new U.S. tariffs on India because of its purchases of Russian crude oil.
As Reuters reported, U.S. crude inventories dropped by 2.4 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.9-million-barrel draw.
West Texas Intermediate finished up 90 cents or 1.4% at $64.15 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude rose 83 cents or 1.2% and closed at $68.05 per barrel.
Natural gas saw a 5.04% gain of $0.137 and settled at $2.854 per MMBtu.
Wednesday saw mostly gains for Oklahoma energy stocks including a more than 4% jump for Helmerich and Payne.