Oil prices settle up 4% despite big U.S. crude inventory build | Reuters

Oil prices settle up 4% despite big U.S. crude inventory build | Reuters

Oil prices jumped on Wednesday, as a large increase in U.S. crude inventories failed to soothe worries about tight global supply, with major oil traders expected to shun Russian barrels.

Brent crude settled up $4.14, or 4%, to $108.78. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures ended up $3.65, or 3.7%, to $104.25.

The gains came a day after both benchmarks climbed more than 6%. The oil market has swung wildly as end-users and traders have tried to quantify the disruption in Russia's daily exports following its invasion of Ukraine. Most estimates range from 1 million to 3 million barrels per day.

"At the end of the day the market is running on some of these headlines out of Russia, which is becoming more threatening, and that continues to be more of a risk," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group. "There's still a debate of what impact this is going to have."