Investing.com - West Texas Intermediate oil futures rose to the highest levels of the session on Wednesday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. fell for the second consecutive week last week.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for June delivery hit session highs of $61.60 a barrel, the most since May 6 and was last at $60.89. Prices were at around $61.46 prior to the release of the inventory data.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 2.19 million barrels in the week ended May 8, compared to forecast for an increase of 0.3 million barrels.
Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 484.8 million barrels as of last week.
The report came after the American Petroleum Institute said Tuesday in its inventory report for last week that stockpiles decreased by 2 million barrels.
U.S. oil prices have staged a recent rebound amid mounting expectations that U.S. shale oil production has peaked and may start falling in the coming months.
But global oil production is still outstripping demand following a boom in U.S. shale oil production and after OPEC's decision last year not to cut production levels.
In a report on Wednesday, the International Energy Agency said that although higher-than-expected oil demand was helping to ease the global supply glut, growth in global oil consumption remained lackluster.
"Despite tentatively bullish signals in the United States, and barring any unforeseen disruption elsewhere, the market's short-term fundamentals still look relatively loose," said the IEA.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent for July delivery was up 0.47%, to $67.63 a barrel.
Brent prices continued to remain supported by concerns over the prospect of a steep slowdown in U.S. oil output growth.
The spread between the Brent and the WTI crude contracts last stood at $6.74 a barrel.