Crude oil futures ended higher on Wednesday as disruptions to Russian and Kazakh crude exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline added to worries over tight global supplies. According to private report, crude oil exports from Kazakhstan's CPC terminal stopped fully on Wednesday after damage caused by a major storm and continued bad weather. The pipeline carries around 1.2 million barrels per day of the country's main crude grade, which is nearly 1.2% of global demand. Besides, oil prices also fell as data released by U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed US crude stockpiles fell by 2.51 million barrels in the week ended March 18th after seeing an increase of 4.35 million barrels in the previous week. The drop was more than 1.7 times the expected decline.
Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery surged $5.66 or 5.2 percent to settle at $114.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery gained $6.22 or 5.39 percent to settle at $121.72 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.