By Yasin Ebrahim
Investing.com - WTI crude oil prices climbed Wednesday as a larger-than-expected draw in weekly U.S. crude supplies and products overshadowed investor worries over the fragile recovery in crude demand.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures rose 2.28% to $42.56 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), Brent added 1.89% to trade at $45.33 a barrel.
Inventories of U.S. crude fell by 4.5 million barrels for the week ended Aug. 7, beating expectations for a draw of 2.9 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.
The large draw in crude supplies comes as imports fell by about 389,000 barrels per day (bpd), data from EIA showed.
Gasoline inventories – one of the products that crude is refined into – fell by 722,000 barrels, deeper than forecasts for a decline of 674,000 barrels, while supplies of distillate – the class of fuels that includes diesel and heating oil – rose by about 1.3 million barrels, less than estimates for a build of 1.7 million barrels.
The draw in products emerged as refinery activity rose to 81% of their capacity last week from 79.6% the prior week, with crude inputs averaging about 14.64 million barrels per day, down from 14.7 million barrels from the prior week, the EIA said.
Crude prices have been trading sideways over the past week amid concerns over whether the recovery in crude demand will continue as the U.S. summer driving season, which tends to boost gas demand, nears an end.
Adding to oil-demand worries, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries estimated in a report released Wednesday, that global oil demand will fall by fall by 9.06 million bpd this year, more than the 8.95 million bpd decline expected a month ago.