Oil prices extend gains, buoyed by unexpected drop in U.S. gasoline stocks

Oil prices on Wednesday extended gains from the previous session, buoyed after official data showed that U.S. inventories of gasoline, diesel and heating oil unexpectedly fell last week.

Brent crude futures had risen 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $72.98 by 0043 GMT. They climbed 1 percent on Wednesday after initially falling to the lowest in three months following the release of official production and stockpile data, which also showed a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 20 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $68.96. They also gained about 1 percent on Wednesday.

TRENDING NOW

Coca Cola India forays into Alcohol segment alcoholic beverage stocks Radico Khaitan, UBL, Sula Vineyards, Som Distilleries shares rise Tilaknagar Industries stock declines

FIRST TRADE: Sensex hits Mt 70,000; Nifty, too, hits fresh record high

Radico Khaitan, UBL, Som Distilleries rise, Tilaknagar Industries drops after Coca-Cola India reportedly forays into alcohol segment

Anil Singhvi strategy December 11: Important levels to track in Nifty50, Nifty Bank today

Hindustan Zinc dividend: Vedanta subsidiary shares to trade ex-date this week

Dividend, bonus, stock split stocks: BPCL, HZL, Sonata Software, 6 other scrips to trade ex-date this week

Sensex touches 70,000 for first time, Nifty scales fresh peak; What's driving the indices higher?

Asian markets news: Stocks brace for central bank bonanza

Delhi records coldest day of season as mercury dips to 6.5 degrees Celsius

US Fed, ECB, Bank of England poised to keep interest rates on hold

Earthquake of magnitude 4.4 jolts Afghanistan's Fayzabad

WhatsApp rolls out channel alerts, search messages by date features on Android: Report

GMR Airports' shares fly high; here's everything you need to know

Animal vs Sam Bahadur Box Office Collection Day 9: Animal crosses Rs 600 crore club, beats Sam Bahadur | Check day-wise collection

SpiceJet shares hit 52-week high, rise over 7% as airline announces plan to list on NSE soon

Gasoline inventories fell by 3.2 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles , which include diesel and heating oil, dropped by 371,000 barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday.

A Reuters poll taken before the data release had forecast that gasoline stocks would be unchanged and distillate stockpiles would show a build of around 900,000 barrels.

U.S. crude stocks rose by 5.8 million barrels last week, compared with a forecast of a decline of 3.6 million barrels.

Oil production reached a record 11 million barrels per day, the EIA said. The United States has added nearly 1 million bpd in production since November, thanks to rapid increases in shale drilling.

Oil markets have fallen over the last week as Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia increased production and as some supply disruptions eased.

OPEC and non-OPEC`s compliance with oil output curbs has declined to around 120 percent in June from 147 percent in May, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)