Oil jumps to six-week high before EIA's inventory report

Oil prices widened their gains in European trade on Wednesday for the sixth straight session, marking the longest such winning streak this year and hitting a six-week high, after initial data showed a surprise drop in US inventories, while traders await the official report later today from the American Petroleum Institute. 

As of 12:45 GMT, US crude rose to $63.80 a barrel from the opening price of $63.66, after closing up 2.4% yesterday. 

The American Petroleum Institute reported a drop of 2.7 million barrels in US crude stocks in the week ending March 16, the first weekly decline in a month, while analysts expected a 3.2M rise. 

Now traders await the official EIA report later today, expected to show an increase of 2.6 million barrels, the fourth in a row. 

US output rose 10 thousand bpd last week, the third in a row, to a total of 10.38 million bpd, the highest ever.