Brent, WTI gain nearly $2 per barrel on session

Crude oil prices were significantly higher on Wednesday after the US Energy Information Administration released figures showing that crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil stockpiles were all lower in the week ending October 20. Crude stockpiles had been expected to rise due to maintenance work that took US refinery utilization down to 86.2 percent last week, from 86.3 percent the week before. Part of the decline was explained by a drop in imports. Brent crude for December delivery added $1.80 to $61.66 per barrel in London, while West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.70 to $61.05 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Inventories of crude oil were 3.3 million barrels lower last week against an expected rise of 2.6 million barrels while distillates, which includes heating oil, were 1.4 million barrels lower. Gasoline stockpiles were down by 2.8 million barrels, while they had only been expected to decline by 0.6 million barrels. Prices for Nymex December unleaded gasoline added 5 cents to $1.5880 per gallon, while Nymex November heating oil added nearly 4.5 cents to $1.7394 per gallon.