Crude oil futures rose during mid-morning trade in Asia Dec. 30, with the NYMEX crude contract on track for a seventh straight day of gains, as the ongoing Santa Claus rally was helped by data that showed a draw in US crude oil stocks last week.

At 09:54 am Singapore time (0154 GMT), the ICE February Brent futures contract was up 23 cents/b (0.29%) from the previous close at $79.46/b, while the NYMEX February light sweet crude contract rose 26 cents/b (0.34%) to $76.82/b. US commercial crude inventories declined by 3.6 million barrels to 420 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 24, Energy Information Administration data showed Dec. 29, pushing stocks 7% behind the five-year average for this time of the year — the tightest levels have been since mid September. Nationwide gasoline stocks fell by […]