WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, rebounding from recent losses, after data showed a drop in crude inventories, and an increase in gasoline stockpiles in the week ended December 13th.
Oil prices were also supported by reports that Kazakhstan intends to comply with OPEC+ quotas and has shelved its plans to raise oil production by 190,000 bpd next year.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.50 or about 0.71% at $70.58 a barrel.
Brent crude futures settled at $73.39 a barrel, gaining $0.20 or about 0.27%.
Data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories in the U.S. dipped by 0.9 million barrels last week, after falling by 1.4 million barrels a week earlier. Economists had expected oil inventories to drop by 1.7 million barrels.
At 421.0 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA said.
The EIA said distillate fuel inventories, which include heating oil and diesel, also slumped by 3.2 million barrels last week and are about 7% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, the report said gasoline inventories increased by 2.3 million barrels last week but remain about 3% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Traders also weighed the impact of likely new sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports on global oil supplies.
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