Houthis claim to have shot down fighter plane USGC crude imports near record low Refiners up crude runs, maximizing distillates New York — Crude futures rallied Wednesday, driven higher by a smaller-than-expected build in US crude inventories and heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. NYMEX front-month crude settled up $1.90 at $57.11/b, while ICE front-month Brent settled $1.49 higher at $62.40/b. US crude stocks climbed 1.38 million barrels to 450.38 million barrels last week, US Energy Information Administration data showed Wednesday. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts on average were looking for a build of roughly 1.6 million barrels. Also, the EIA build fell short of the nearly 6-million barrel increase reported by the American Petroleum Institute Tuesday evening. Crude futures rallied on the EIA data, and extended after news reports that Houthi forces in Yemen shot down a Saudi Arabian coalition F-15 fighter plane. “The Saudi-led […]