WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by soft inflation data, and a report showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended May 10th.
A report from the International Energy Agency, that lowered the forecast for global oil demand growth for the current year by 0.14 million barrels per day, to 1.1 million barrels, limited oil's gains. The agency cited weak demand in developed OECD nations as the reason for lowering its demand forecast.
The dollar's weakness contributed as well to the rise in oil prices.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.61 or about 0.78% at $78.63 a barrel.
Brent crude futures were up $0.46 or 0.56% at $82.84 a barrel a little while ago.
Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended May 10th, after falling by 1.4 million barrels in the previous week. Economists had expected crude oil inventories to drop by 1.4 million barrels last week.
At 457.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 4% below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said.
The EIA also said gasoline inventories edged down by 0.2 million barrels last week and are about 1% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, distillate fuel inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, also slightly decreased last week and are about 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Data from the Labor Department showed consumer prices in the U.S. rose by slightly less than expected in the month of April, increasing by 0.3%, after rising by 0.4% in March. Economists had expected consumer prices to climb by another 0.4%.
The report also said the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3.4% in April from 3.5% in March, in line with expectations. The annual rate of core consumer price growth decelerated to 3.6% in April from 3.8% in March. The slowdown also matched estimates.
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