Crude oil futures ended higher on Wednesday after official data showed a larger than expected decline in US crude inventories in the week ended June 18. Data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the US fell by 7.614 million barrels last week, declining for a fifth straight week. Street had expected crude inventories to drop by about 3.9 million barrels in the week. Distillate stockpiles rose by 1.75 million barrels last week, much more than an expected increase of about 1.08 million barrels, while gasoline inventories dropped by 2.93 million barrels versus expectations for a build of about 833,000 barrels. The American Petroleum Institute (API) industry group reported on Tuesday that US crude stocks fell by 7.2 million barrels for the week ending June 18, compared with expectations for a much smaller draw of 3.9 million barrels.
Crude oil futures for August rose $0.23 or 0.3 percent to settle at $73.08 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. August Brent crude gained $0.38 or 0.5 percent to settle at $75.19 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.