Investing.com – Crude oil futures held on to strong gains on Wednesday, trading close to a two-week high after a government report showed a surprise buildup in U.S. crude oil, while gasoline inventories declined significantly.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD88.63 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, jumping 1.7%.
It earlier rose as much as 2.25% to trade at USD89.17 a barrel, the highest price since August 4.
The contract traded at USD88.91 prior to the release of the Energy Information Administration data.
The U.S. EIA said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels in the week ended August 12, confounding expectations for a 0.5 million barrel decline.
U.S. crude supplies fell by 5.2 million barrels in the preceding week.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 354.0 million barrels as of last week, remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 3.5 million barrels, after falling by 1.6 million barrels in the preceding week and outstripping expectations for a 2.0 million barrel withdrawal.
Energy traders have been closely eyeing gasoline stockpiles in recent weeks to gauge the strength of demand as the U.S. driving season was in its peak gasoline demand period.
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 15.4 million barrels per day, 205,000 barrels per day above the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 89.1% of their operable capacity last week.
Meanwhile, prices were also boosted by a broadly weaker U.S. dollar. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.51% to hit 73.67.
Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls, as this makes oil cheaper for buyers in other currencies.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery rose 1.65% to trade at USD111.17 a barrel, up USD22.54 on its U.S. counterpart.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light sweet crude futures for delivery in October traded at USD88.63 a barrel during U.S. morning trade, jumping 1.7%.
It earlier rose as much as 2.25% to trade at USD89.17 a barrel, the highest price since August 4.
The contract traded at USD88.91 prior to the release of the Energy Information Administration data.
The U.S. EIA said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.2 million barrels in the week ended August 12, confounding expectations for a 0.5 million barrel decline.
U.S. crude supplies fell by 5.2 million barrels in the preceding week.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 354.0 million barrels as of last week, remaining above the upper limit of the average range for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 3.5 million barrels, after falling by 1.6 million barrels in the preceding week and outstripping expectations for a 2.0 million barrel withdrawal.
Energy traders have been closely eyeing gasoline stockpiles in recent weeks to gauge the strength of demand as the U.S. driving season was in its peak gasoline demand period.
U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged about 15.4 million barrels per day, 205,000 barrels per day above the previous week’s average. Refineries operated at 89.1% of their operable capacity last week.
Meanwhile, prices were also boosted by a broadly weaker U.S. dollar. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.51% to hit 73.67.
Dollar-denominated oil futures contracts tend to rise when the dollar falls, as this makes oil cheaper for buyers in other currencies.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange, Brent oil futures for October delivery rose 1.65% to trade at USD111.17 a barrel, up USD22.54 on its U.S. counterpart.