By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles fell more than expected last week at a time when the Omicron variant continues to threaten energy demand.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, traded at $71.38 barrel on the news, after settling up 3.7% at $71.12 a barrel.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.7 million barrels for the week ended Dec.17. That compared with a draw of 815,000 barrels reported by the API for the previous week. Economists were expecting a draw of about 2.6 million barrels.
The API data also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 3.7 million barrels last week, and distillate stocks decreased by 849,000 barrels.
The official government inventory report due Wednesday is expected to show weekly U.S. crude supplies fell by about 2.6 million barrels last week.