Oil prices at five-month high on big drop in U.S. crude stocks - Reuters

Oil prices at five-month high on big drop in U.S. crude stocks - Reuters:

Oil prices rose to their highest since early March on Wednesday on data showing a big drop in U.S. crude inventories, and a weak dollar, but mounting coronavirus infections weighed on the demand outlook.

Brent crude was up $1.63, or 3.67%, at $46.06 a barrel by 1215 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate oil rose $1.59, or 3.81%, to $43.79 a barrel.

Both contracts gained over 4% earlier in the session.

U.S. crude inventories fell by 8.6 million barrels in the week to Aug. 1 to 520 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations for a 3 million barrel drop, the American Petroleum Institute found.

Official figures are due on Wednesday.