US oil prices extended their gains on Wednesday after an official report showed a larger than expected draw in weekly crude and gasoline inventories. US crude stockpiles fell by 6.15m barrels in the week ended July 20, the Energy Information Administration said. That was far steeper than expectations for a 2.3m barrel draw, according to a Thomson Reuters poll.
US crude stocks fell to their lowest since February 2015, according to Thomson Reuters data. Industry group American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude stocks fell by 3.16m barrels. Stockpiles of gasoline, one of the products that crude is refined into, fell by 2.33m barrels steeper than forecasts for a 713,000 barrel draw.
That prompted a rally in West Texas Intermediate, the US crude benchmark, which gained as much as 1.2 per cent to $69.37 a barrel, before trimming those gains to trade 0.9 per cent higher. US crude prices were up for a second consecutive day but oil has been under pressure this month on signs of increasing global supply and concerns that the growing trade battle could drag on growth and hurt demand for crude.