WTI oil futures rise on API data showing drawdown

Data revealing another unexpected drawdown in US crude oil inventories stoked gains in crude oil futures.

US oil stockpiles reportedly fell by 7.5m barrels over the latest reference week, according to the latest tally from the American Petroleum Institute.

That was far less than the 2.3m barrel build which analysts had been expecting.

API publishes its survey results the day before those from a similar official survey from the US Department of Energy, although the correlations between the two sets of data on a week-to-week basis is not necessarily very tight.

As of 1258 BST front mont Brent crude oil futures were trading 1.8% higher at $46.71, alongside gains of 1.92% for West Texas Intermediate.