Crude oil futures ended sharply higher with rally over two percent on Wednesday as data showed a drop in crude inventories in the US in the week ended July 22nd. Data from US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles in the US dropped 4.52 million barrels last week. The EIA data also showed that distillate stockpiles fell by 784,000 barrels last week, as against an expected drop of about 500,000 barrels. Besides, data from the American Petroleum Institute showed US crude stocks dropped by about 4 million barrels last week, nearly four times the fall expected by market participants.
Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery surged $2.28 or about 2.4 percent to settle at $97.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery rose $2.22 or 2.1 percent to settle at $106.62 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.