The US Energy Information Administration reported today that crude inventories fell 5.9 million barrels to 492.4 million during the past week, while analysts forecast a drop by 2.9 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks rose 0.3 million to 234.9 million barrels, and distillate stocks fell 2.1 million to 143.5 million barrels.
While the American Petroleum Institute (API) revealed yesterday in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 3.6 million barrels during the same period.
Nickel prices fell on Wednesday, despite the US dollar's drop against its peers, amid expectations of a shortage in the global supply of several industrial metals.
The Russian mining company Nornickel said last month that its production of nickel, copper, platinum and palladium would be lower by 15-20% than its primary target.
The company, which is the world's largest producer of palladium, added that based on calculations of February mine closures due to water problems, its production of palladium, nickel, copper and platinum would drop by 710,000 ounces.
The dollar index fell against a basket of major currencies by 0.1% to 91.7 points as of 13:39 GMT, after hitting a high of 91.8 points and a low of 91.6 points.
As of 13:50 GMT, nickel spot future contracts fell 0.2% to $16,192.9 per tonne.
The main US stock indices rose on Wednesday, as investors focused on the quarterly business results for the first quarter of 2021.
Several US banks reported today their quarterly earnings results amid expectations of further growth in the coming period due to optimism about the US GDP.
Data showed yesterday that the US consumer price index rose by 0.6% during the past month, in the largest monthly jump since August 2012, beating forecasts of a 0.5%.
The rising inflation sparked investors' worries about the US Treasury bond yield.
As for stocks, Dow Jones rose 0.5% or 176 points to 33,851 as of 14:03 GMT, Nasdaq fell 0.1% or 10 points to 13,985, and S&P 500 rose 0.1% or 3 points to 4,144.
European stocks rose in early trading on Wednesday, extending gains for the second straight session near the all-time record highs, as focus shifted to the corporate earnings season for the first quarter of this year, and following Wall Street's record gains yesterday.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3% as of 11:28 GMT, after closing higher by 0.1% yesterday.
The mining care sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a jump of more than 1.1%, followed by the tech sector's 1.0% rise.
LVHM stock rose more than 2.5%, after the French conglomerate specialized in luxury goods announced a large rebound in Q1 profits thanks to the rising US and Chinese demand for the company's products.
SAP shares rose more than 4% after the German software giant raised its revenue forecast for 2021, after making better-than-expected profits thanks to strong sales during the first quarter.
S&P 500 futures rose more than 0.1%, after the index closed higher by 0.15% yesterday and hit a new record high of 4,148.00.
Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.3%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.5% to its highest level since November 2000 at 6,217.7 points, and Germany's DAX index added less than 0.1%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.