Crude futures extended gains on Wednesday after a U.S. government agency reported a surprise decrease in crude inventories for last week compared to market expectations for new record-high inventories.
The Energy Information Administration said U.S. commercial crude stockpiles fell by 4.9 million barrels to a total of 529.9 barrels in the previous week.
Gains were initially muted as the data also showed a 1.4-million-barrel build in gasoline stockpiles and a 1.8-million-barrel in distillate fuel inventories.
Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.3 million barrels for the week ending April 1. Analysts had forecast a build of 3.2 million barrels that could take stockpiles to an eighth consecutive week of record highs, eclipsing the previous high of 534.8 million barrels.
Hopes for an agreement among major oil producers to freeze output also underpinned the market, helping U.S. and Brent crude futures to come off the one-month lows struck in Tuesday's session.
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