Oil climbs on drop in U.S. oil stockpiles, solid demand outlook

Oil prices climbed on Wednesday, extending gains accumulated overnight after industry data showed a decline in U.S. crude stockpile. This reinforced OPEC’s upbeat demand outlook and as the shutdown of Colonial Pipeline headed into the sixth day.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.3%, or 21 cents, at $65.49 per barrel, following a 36-cent climb on Tuesday.

Brent crude futures rose 0.2%, or 15 cents, at $68.70 per barrel, after a 23-cent increase in the last session.

API data showed that U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 2.5 million barrels in the week ended May 7, contrary to analysts’ expectations for a 2.8-million-barrel drawdown. 

The decline came before Colonial Pipeline suffered a cyberattack last Friday, forcing the shutdown of over 2.5 million bpd of fuel. 

Oil prices also rose on OPEC’s latest outlook of a strong global demand recovery in 2021, with growth in the United States and China outweighing COVID-19 impact in India.