Oil prices rose Wednesday after new EIA data showed U.S. oil production has continued to decline and demand for gasoline and diesel fuel was far higher than expected.
“Gasoline stockpiles fell last week three times as much as expected and diesel stockpiles fell double what was expected,” the U.S. EIA said in the report.
WTI rose 3%, to $37.60 a barrel on NYMEX while Brent, the global benchmark, rose 2.3%, to $40.55 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Oil has steadily rallied for nearly a month in large part from hope that a prolonged crashing of prices will get producers to reduce their drilling.
The price rally has also is supported by hopes for an agreement between major international producers to cut their output. Big time suppliers, including Russia and Saudi Arabia, announced last month that they would freeze their output at January levels if other producers join. Iran, however, refused to agree to such measures.