Investing.com - Oil prices added to strong gains in North American hours on Wednesday, touching a fresh four-month high after data showed that crude supplies in the U.S. fell for the fifth week in a row.
Crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped $1.07, or 2.2%, to $49.76 a barrel by 10:36AM ET (14:36GMT). Prices were at around $49.59 prior to the release of the inventory data. The contract rose to a session peak of $49.83 earlier, the most since June 29.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories fell by 2.976 million barrels in the week ended September 30. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock gain of 2.56 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a supply drop of 7.6 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, increased by 569,000 barrels last week, the EIA said.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 499.7 million barrels as of last week, which the EIA considered to be “historically high levels for this time of year”.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories increased by 222,000 barrels, compared to expectations for a gain of 702,000 barrels.
For distillate inventories including diesel, the EIA reported a decline of 2.359 million barrels.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for December delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London rose $1.04, or 2.05%, to $51.91 a barrel. London-traded Brent rose to $51.97 earlier, a level not seen since June 10.
Sentiment remained supported after OPEC members agreed on output cuts for the first time in eight years last week, despite some skepticism among analysts over the implementation of such an agreement.
The oil cartel reached an agreement to limit production to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day, a reduction of 0.7%-to-2.2% from its current output of 33.2 million barrels.
However, the market remained skeptical of the deal, pondering how such a plan would be implemented. Some analysts cautioned that the agreement left out crucial details on how much each country will produce.
The 14-member oil group said it will finalize a plan to make those decisions at the official OPEC meeting in Vienna on November 30, when an invitation to join cuts could also be extended to non-OPEC countries such as Russia.