Crude oil futures ended higher for third straight day on Wednesday after data showed a drop in US crude inventories last week, and fuel demand rose to the highest level since March 2020. According to the data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), crude inventories in the US fell by 3 million barrels in the week ended August 21. The data also showed gasoline stockpiles dropped by 2.2 million barrels last week, and stockpiles rose by 600,000 barrels. The EIA data also showed the four-week average of fuel supply in the US climbed to almost 21 million barrels per day, the highest level since March 2020. The American Petroleum Institute's latest crude oil inventory data released on Tuesday showed a draw of 1.622 million barrels for the week ending August 20.
Crude oil futures for October surged $0.82 or 1.2 percent to settle $68.36 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. October Brent crude gained $1.20 or 1.7 percent to settle at $72.25 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.