NNA - Oil prices rose about 3% to a four-month high on Wednesday on a surprise withdrawal in U.S. crude inventories, a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. gasoline stocks and potential supply disruptions after Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries.
Brent futures rose $2.11, or 2.6%, to settle at $84.03 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.16, or 2.8%, to settle at $79.72.
That was the highest close for Brent since Nov. 6.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms pulled a surprise 1.5 million barrels of crude from stockpiles during the week ended March 8.
That compares with the 1.3 million barrel build analysts forecast in a Reuters poll and the 5.5 million barrel withdrawal shown in data from the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group. EIA/A ,
U.S. gasoline futures , meanwhile, showed the biggest price increase across the energy complex, rising about 2.9% to their highest since September 2023 after EIA said energy firms pulled a much larger-than-expected 5.7 million barrels of gasoline from stockpiles last week.--Reuters
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