Investing.com –West Texas Intermediate oil showed no immediate reaction in North American trade on Wednesday to a surprise draw on U.S. crude inventories, as investors continued to wait for the official announcement of OPEC’s deal to cut production.
Crude oil for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $3.37, or 7.60%, to trade at $48.60 a barrel by 10:34AM ET (15:34GMT) compared to $48.59 ahead of the report.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories dropped by 0.844 million barrels last week. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock increase of 0.636 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a supply draw of 0.717 million barrels.
Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for Nymex crude, jumped by 2.419 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 481.0 million barrels as of last week, according to press release, which the EIA considered to be “near the upper limit of the average range for this time of year”.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories rose by 2.097 million barrels, compared to expectations for a build of 1.156 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles increased by 4.957 million barrels, compared to forecasts for an increase of 1.336 million.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for February delivery soared $3.37, or 7.60%, to $51.09 by 10:40AM ET (15:40GMT), compared to $51.02 before the release.
Meanwhile, market participants were focused on a pending official announcement from OPEC of their agreement to cut production.
According to leaks, the cartel had agreed at their official meeting in Vienna on Wednesday to cut production by 1.2 million barrels and request that non-OPEC oil producers reduce their own output by another 600,000.
Meanwhile, Brent's premium to the WTI crude contract stood at $2.45 a barrel by 10:44AM ET (15:44GMT), compared to a gap of $2.09 by close of trade on Tuesday.