Crude oil futures ended higher on Wednesday despite data showing a rise in US crude inventories in the week ended March 5. According to the data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude inventories were up by 13.8 million barrels last week, compared with expectations for a build of 816,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories dropped by 11.869 million barrels last week, nearly 3 times the expected fall. Meanwhile, distillate stockpiles were down 5.5 million barrels last week, more than 1.5 times higher than an expected drop. The American Petroleum Institute reported that US crude supplies rose by 12.8 million barrels for the week ended March 5.
Crude oil futures for April rose $0.43 or about 0.7 percent to settle at $64.44 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. May Brent crude gained $0.46 or 0.6 percent to settle at $67.90 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.