Investing.com – Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday as investors cheered data showing U.S. crude stockpiles fell more-than-expected for the fourth straight week easing concerns over an expected uptick in domestic production.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for November delivery rose by 16 cents to settle at $52.04 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 25 cents to trade at $58.13 a barrel.
Crude oil prices continued their bullish to the week after a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles fell-more-than-expected but an uptick in gasoline supplies limited upside momentum.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by roughly 5.7m barrels in the week ended Oct. 13, beating expectations of a draw of 4.2m barrels.
Gasoline inventories, one of the products that crude is refined into, rose by roughly 908,000 barrels, well above expectations of a draw of 256,000 barrels while distillate stockpiles rose by about 528,000 barrels, missing expectations of a decline of 1.45m barrels.
The uptick in supplies of refinery products such as gasoline comes amid a traditional slowdown in refinery activity as refiners undergo seasonal maintenance.
Also supporting an uptick in crude prices were signs of tightening in U.S. output despite ongoing concerns that rising crude prices would encourage domestic shale producers to ramp up output.
The EIA reported a drop of nearly 1.1 million barrels a day in U.S. production from the lower 48 States, putting total output at 7.9 million barrels a day.
Elsewhere investors continued to monitor the possibility of supply disruptions amid ongoing political uncertainty in Iraq following conflict between Iraqi and Kurdish forces earlier in the week.
Kurdish forces on Tuesday pulled out of disputed areas in region after Iraqi forces ceased control of the oil rich city of Kirkuk. The majority Kurdish region of Northern Iraq exports nearly 600,000 barrels of oil a day.