2019.07.1006:43:00UTC+00Oil Prices Jump On Bullish Inventory Data

Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after the American Petroleum Institute (API) reported a huge crude oil inventory draw and major U.S. producers evacuated rigs in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a brewing storm.

Benchmark Brent crude jumped 1.9 percent to $65.29 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 2.1 percent at $59.05 a barrel.

The API report showed a decrease of 8.129 million barrels in the U.S. crude oil inventories for the week ending July 5, compared to analyst expectations of a smaller 3.081-million barrel draw.

Official crude inventory data from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) is due later in the day.

U.S. oil production will continue to break output records into 2020, but may be growing at a slower rate than previously expected, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its short-term energy outlook on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a tropical disturbance may become a storm later on Wednesday or Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said early Wednesday. In the likelihood it would become a named storm, it would be called Tropical Storm Barry.