NYMEX crude up in Asia on API drawdown with summer demand solid

Investing.com - Crude oil prices gained in Asia on Wednesday after a solid drop in U.S. crude stocks reported by an industry group.

The American Petroleum Institute said that crude oil supplies fell 3.2 million barrels last week, a sharper drop than the previous week's 2.9 million barrel fall, as the summer driving season gains pace in the United States and refiners step up output.

Details on gasoline and distillate stocks were not immediately available.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for August delivery gained 0.68 or 1.13% to 61.05 a barrel, rallying more than 1% for the second consecutive session.

Overnight, crude futures surged on Tuesday extending gains from one session earlier in spite of a stronger dollar, ahead of weekly API supply data after the market's close.

On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Brent crude for August delivery shot up more than 2.25% to an intraday high of $64.89, its highest one-day move in two weeks, before falling back to $64.50 a barrel, up 1.16 on the session on Tuesday.

Separately, a report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday could show that U.S. crude stockpiles fell by 1.8 million barrels for the week ending June 19.

Last week, U.S. crude inventories declined by 2.7 million to 467.9 million marking the seventh consecutive week of weekly draws. Crude stockpiles throughout the U.S. have fallen sharply over the last two months, as the summer driving season ramps up. The EIA said in its last report that U.S. refinery operated at 93.1% of its total capacity, a figure that may have declined over the last several days due to the effects of Tropical Depression Bill in the Gulf Coast region.

While slowing production and increased gasoline demand has helped reduce a historic glut of oversupply in recent weeks, U.S. crude inventories are still at their highest level at this time of the year in at least 80 years.

Elsewhere, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell took a hawkish stance on the timing of a highly-anticipated interest rate hike by the Fed, indicating that there is a 50/50 chance lift-off could occur at the FOMC's September meeting, followed potentially by another rate hike in December. Appearing on a panel discussing monetary policy in Washington, Powell said that while transient effects pulled down inflation in the first quarter, it could still reach the Fed's targeted goal of 2% by the end of 2015, as the dollar and oil prices stabilize.

In Athens, leftist demonstrations supporting the Syriza government continued one day after European leaders expressed optimism that a deal for a temporary Greek bailout could be reached over the next few days. Following an emergency summit in Brussels on Monday evening, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was confident that the euro group can finalize the decision-making process at some point this week after Greece took major steps to meet the expectations of its troika of its creditors with its latest proposal.