Oil prices climbed more than $1 on Wednesday, extending overnight gains after industry data showed U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected last week in the wake of two hurricanes, highlighting tight supply as demand improves.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.08, or 1.5%, to $71.57 a barrel by 0643 GMT, adding to a 35- cent gain from Tuesday.
Brent crude futures climbed $1.03, or 1.4%, to $75.39 a barrel, after gaining 44 cents on Tuesday.
The oil market’s focus turned to concerns of tight supply, after Monday’s pressure from broad market jitters over the possible default of Chinese property developer China Evergrande Group.
U.S. crude stocks fell by 6.1 million barrels for the week ended Sept. 17, market sources said, citing Tuesday’s figures from the American Petroleum Institute.
That was a much bigger decline than the drop of 2.4 million barrels in crude inventories that 10 analysts polled by Reuters had expected on average.
The market will be watching for data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday to confirm the big drops in crude and fuel stocks.
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