Oil futures soar on US crude inventory draw, bullish IEA outlook

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) – Crude oil futures surged higher in London and New York Wednesday following the latest US oil data showing a sharp drop in crude oil stocks.

Brent futures for June crude were trading $66.49/b at 17:40 London time (16:40 GMT) up $2.82/b from Wednesday's settle of $63.67/b, an increase of nearly 4.5%. At the same time May WTI was trading $2.94/b higher at $63.11/b.

The US Energy Information Administration reported a draw of 5.9 million barrels of crude in the week ending April 9, exceeding analyst forecasts of around 3 million barrels.  

In refined products, the EIA reported a small inventory build of 300,000 barrels, while middle distillates stocks were estimated to have declined by 2.1 million barrels on the week.

Earlier Wednesday, the April International Energy Agency report predicted the oil market was set to rebalance in the second half of the year as the demand recovery continues.