Investing.com – Crude futures settled higher on Wednesday, as investors cheered data showing supplies of U.S. crude fell by more-than-expected for a fourth-straight week, lifting expectations that supplies will tighten during the second-half of the year.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for August delivery rose by 1.8% to settle at $48.75 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 1.27% to trade at $50.54 a barrel.
Crude prices rose for a third-straight day, after a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude and gasoline stockpiles fell by more than expected last week, pointing to an uptick in demand for crude and refinery activity.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by roughly 7.2m barrels in the week ended July 14, confounding expectations of a draw of about only 2.6m barrels. It was fourth-straight week of falling crude inventories.
Gasoline inventories, one of the products that crude is refined into, fell by roughly 1m barrels against expectations of a draw of 614,000 barrels while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.9m barrels, compared to expectations of a decline of 453,000 barrels.
The bigger-than-expected drop crude and gasoline stockpiles comes after investor sentiment on oil turned positive, following Saudi Arabia’s pledge to lower crude exports and supply disruptions in Nigeria.
At a gathering of ministers from major crude-producing nations in St. Petersburg, Russia on Monday, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said his country would limit crude oil exports at 6.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in August, almost 1 million bpd below levels a year ago.
Nigerian output slipped this week as leaks forced Shell to shut a pipeline exporting 180,000 bpd of oil. Nigeria, which has been exempted from OPEC-led production cuts, also agreed to cap or cut output when it stabilized at 1.8 million bpd.