Brent futures rose $1.60, or 1.8%, to settle at $91.50 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.66, or 1.9%, to settle at $88.32. At their session highs, both benchmarks were up more than $3 a barrel.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said energy firms pulled 4.5 million barrels of crude from stockpiles during the week ended Oct. 13.
That was much higher than the 0.3 million barrel draw analysts forecast in a Reuters poll. On Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) industry group reported a 4.4 million barrel drop.
It was the fourth crude storage decline in five weeks. It far exceeded the 1.7 million barrel weekly draw a year earlier and compares with a five-year (2018-2022) average build of 2.5 million barrels.
Supplies declined 0.8 million barrels at the Cushing storage facility in Oklahoma to the lowest since October 2014, prompting concerns about the quality of oil remaining at the delivery point for U.S. oil futures.
“The biggest concern in this report is Cushing, Oklahoma ... we're drawing that down to dangerously low levels that should be supportive for the entire complex,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
