Oil rises 39 cents, settling at $49.56, after another big drop in US crude stockpiles
2017-08-09
Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday after a report showed U.S. refineries processed record amounts of crude in the latest week, eating into inventories, although a surprise jump in gasoline stockpiles limited price gains.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 6.5 million barrels last week, government data showed, steeper than the expected decrease of 2.7 million barrels. Refiners processed nearly 17.6 million barrels of crude, surpassing a record set in May and the most for any week since the U.S. Department of Energy started keeping data in 1982.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 55 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $52.69 at 2:35 p.m. ET (1835 GMT), after two days of decline.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude ended Wednesday's session up 39 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $49.56.
--News from www.cnbc.com
