U.S. crude oil rose Wednesday, rebounding from a drop below $47 U.S. a barrel earlier in the session and its lowest settlement in nearly six years.
Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose 24 cents, or 0.5%, to $48.13 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The contract traded as low as $46.83 U.S. earlier, extending Tuesday’s 4.2% drop that left crude oil at its lowest since April 2009.
A surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories did little to boost prices further, as a weekly inventories report also showed bearish supply increases for gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil.
U.S. crude inventories declined by 3.1 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 2, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. Analysts polled by Platts had expected supplies to increase by 380,000 barrels.
Gasoline inventories rose by 8.1 million barrels, while supplies of distillates rose by 11.2 million barrels.
The analysts surveyed by Platts had expected gasoline stocks to increase by 2.25 million barrels and distillate stocks to increase by 2.06 million barrels.
The recent, relentless selloff in oil has led to some traders betting the commodity could fall to as low as $20 U.S. a barrel.
Elsewhere in energy trading, gasoline for February declined two cents, or 14%, to $1.33 U.S. a gallon on Nymex. February heating oil dropped four cents, or 2.4%, to $1.69 U.S. a gallon on Nymex.
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