Oil futures rose more than 2 percent on Wednesday after a surprising plunge in U.S. crude inventories and as OPEC’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia appeared unfazed by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to prevent oil prices from rising.
Crude inventories fell by 8.6 million barrels last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for an increase of 2.8 million barrels, the U.S. government reported. U.S. crude imports fell to an all-time low of 2.6 million bpd, in the wake of declining OPEC production and U.S. sanctions against Venezuela.
“It was definitively a shocking drawdown, and it suggests that we’re already seeing a major impact from OPEC production cuts and maybe an early impact from the drop in Venezuela crude supply,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
