Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil extended strong gains in North America trade on Wednesday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. rose less than feared last week.
Crude oil for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $1.16, or 3.18% to trade at $37.66 a barrel by 15:35GMT, or 10:35AM ET. Prices were at around $37.20 prior to the release of the inventory data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels in the week ended March 4.
Market analysts' expected a crude-stock rise of 3.9 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply gain of 4.4 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at an all-time high of 521.9 million barrels as of last week, underlining concerns over a domestic supply glut.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, rose by 690,000 barrels last week, the EIA said, raising fears that the nation's largest storage facility is nearing full capacity.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories decreased by 4.5 million barrels, compared to expectations for a drop of 1.4 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.1 million barrels.
Since falling to 13-year lows at $26.05 on February 11, Nymex oil prices have rebounded by approximately 33% as a decline in U.S. shale production boosted sentiment.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for May delivery tacked on $1.09, or 2.72%, to trade at $40.74 a barrel.
Brent soared to a three-month peak of $41.04 earlier this week amid continued hopes major oil producers will meet later this month to discuss a potential output freeze.
Brent futures are up by roughly 30%, since briefly dropping below $30 a barrel on February 11. Short-covering began in mid-February after Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC members Qatar and Venezuela agreed with non-OPEC member Russia to freeze output at January levels, provided other oil exporters joined in.
Global crude production is outpacing demand following a boom in U.S. shale oil and after a decision by OPEC last year not to cut production in order to defend market share, driving down prices by more than 70% over the past 20 months.
Meanwhile, Brent's premium to the West Texas Intermediate crude contract stood at $3.08 a barrel, compared to a gap of $3.15 by close of trade on Tuesday.