The American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday reported a modest draw in crude oil inventories of 2.618 million barrels for the week ending April 2.
Analysts had predicted a smaller draw of 1.436 million barrels for the week.
In the previous week, the API reported a build in oil inventories of 3.910 million barrels after analysts had predicted a much smaller build of 107,000 barrels.
Plains All American tanks at main Cushing area as of April 2.
After tanking on Monday, oil prices were trading up on the day prior to the data release as fears in the market calmed regarding additional supplies that might be brought onto the market should the talks over the Iranian nuclear deal end with lifting U.S. sanctions.
At 4:02 p.m. EDT, WTI traded at $59.40, or 1.28% higher on the day. Brent crude traded up at $62.79 per barrel or 1.03% up on the day.
As U.S. oil inventories shrink, U.S. oil production rose modestly to 11.1 million bpd during the week ending March 26, according to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration. It is the second increase in as many weeks.
The API reported a build in gasoline inventories of 4.553 million barrels for the week ending April 2-after the previous week's 6.012-million-barrel barrel draw. Analysts had expected a 221,000 barrel draw for the week.
Distillate stocks saw an increase in inventories this week of 2.810 million barrels for the week, after last week's 2.595-million-barrel increase.
Cushing inventory figures fell by 84,000 barrels.
Post data release, at 4:34 p.m. EDT, the WTI benchmark was trading at $59.45--$1 shy of last week's levels. Brent crude was trading at $62.83 per barrel.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More