Oil rises on U.S. crude stockpile draw, global manufacturing activity - Reuters

Oil rises on U.S. crude stockpile draw, global manufacturing activity - Reuters:

Oil prices rose about 1% on Wednesday following a drawdown in U.S. crude inventories from record highs and a string of positive manufacturing data, but a surge in coronavirus cases tempered gains.

Brent crude LCOc1 rose 55 cents, or 1.3%, to $41.82 a barrel by 11:08 a.m. EDT (1508 GMT). U.S. crude rose 38 cents, or 1%, to $39.65 a barrel.

U.S. crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell more than expected, dropping by 7.2 million barrels last week, after hitting all-time highs for three consecutive weeks, Energy Information Administration data showed. Analysts had expected a 710,000-barrel drop.

Much of the drawdown was attributed to refiners ramping up production after reducing runs this spring because of the pandemic, as refinery utilization rates USOIRU=ECI rose by 0.9 percentage point to 75.5%, their highest since early April.