Oil futures rallied Wednesday back above $94 U.S. a barrel, scoring the best one-day gain in about a month after weekly reports showed a smaller-than-expected climb in U.S. crude supplies along with declines in gasoline and distillate inventories that were higher than analysts’ forecast.
Prices for oil’s European benchmark, Brent crude, turned a bit lower late in the trading session as Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists reiterated a forecast for average Brent prices of $101 U.S. a barrel in the first quarter of next year.
December crude rose $1.43, or 1.5%, to settle at $94.80 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were trading around $94.22 U.S. before the government supply data were released.
The session’s dollar and percentage gains were the highest since Oct. 2 for a most-active contract.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration early Wednesday reported that crude stockpiles were up 1.6 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 1. Analysts polled by Platts were looking for a climb of 2.5 million barrels.
The American Petroleum Institute reported late Tuesday an 871,000-barrel climb in crude supplies.
Concerns over a glut of U.S. crude supplies and growing production weighed on oil futures before the API data were released late Tuesday, leaving December crude with a loss of 1.3% when trading closed that day. Its settlement of $93.37 a barrel was the lowest since early June, according to experts.
Weakness in the dollar also helped crude maintain a bid.
The EIA’s reported rise in crude supplies marks the seventh-consecutive weekly climb in inventories.
As for the oil products, the EIA said gasoline supplies fell by 3.8 million barrels — much larger than the forecast calling for a decline of one million barrels. Distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil, dropped 4.9 million barrels, compared with expectations for a decline of 1.5 million barrels.
On Nymex, December gasoline closed at $2.55 a gallon, up three cents, or 1.3%. December heating oil added a little over half a cent to settle at $2.87 U.S. a gallon.
