Oil jumps to 2-week high after large drop in US inventories

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, resuming gains after taking a pause yesterday, following a large drop in the US crude inventories according to the API's preliminary data, and ahead of the EIA's official report.

US crude rose 1.0% to the highest since July 15 at $72.57 a barrel, after opening at $71.88, and hit a low at $71.84, and Brent crude rose 0.75% to $75.28 a barrel, after opening at $74.73, and hit a low at $74.60.

 The US crude lost 0.4% yesterday, and Brent crude fell 0.3%, in the first daily loss in 5 days, due to global demand concerns.

The American Petroleum Institute reported 4.7 in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 7.98 million barrels during the week ending July 23, while analysts forecast a drop by 2.5 million barrels.

The total US commercial inventories fell to 441.4 million barrels, which is the lowest level since the week ending February 7, 2020, in a positive sign of the US domestic demand.

The US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to drop by 2.6 million barrels.