Oil trims gains despite sharp drop in US inventories

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, as positive the US dollar held against most major currencies, but the US crude trimmed its gains despite a sharp drop in US inventories.

The Energy Information Administration reported today that the US crude inventories fell 7.4 million barrels to 466.7 million barrels during the past week, while analysts forecasts a drop by 4.2 million barrels.

While the American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 8.5 million barrels during the same period.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by less than 0.1% to 90.5 points as of 17:33 GMT, after hitting a high of 90.5 points and a low of 90.4 points.

As of 17:30 GMT, WTI crude July futures fell 0.1% to $72.02 a barrel, after hitting a high of $72.9 and a low of $71.8.

Brent August futures rose 0.3% to $74.2 a barrel, after hitting a high of $74.9 and a low of $73.9.