Oil rises as U.S. crude stocks fall again, Fed cuts interest rates - Reuters

Oil rises as U.S. crude stocks fall again, Fed cuts interest rates - Reuters:

Oil prices rose for a fifth day on Wednesday following a larger-than-expected drop in U.S. inventories and after the Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.

The front-month Brent crude LCOc1 futures contract, which expired Wednesday, rose 45 cents to settle at $65.17 a barrel. Brent posted a monthly decline of 2.1%.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures gained 53 cents to settle at $58.58 a barrel, and inched up 0.2% in July.

U.S. crude stockpiles USOILC=ECI fell for a seventh straight week, slumping 8.5 million barrels last week, the Energy Information Administration said, far exceeding analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 2.6 million barrels.

At 436.5 million barrels, U.S. crude inventories, not including strategic oil reserves, were at the five year average for this time of year, the EIA said.