The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday said crude supplies fell by 1.1 million barrels for the week ended April 13. Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts had forecast a climb of 625,000 barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a fall of roughly 1 million barrels.
Traders were also looking ahead to the outcome of the joint Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC ministerial monitoring committee meeting expected to be held on Friday. At the last joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, or JMMC, gathering held in late January, the committee said OPEC and its allies saw compliance with production-cut agreement at 129% in December 2017.
Also supporting crude Wednesday were signs that major oil producers may be targeting much higher oil prices. In briefings in recent weeks, senior Saudi officials have conveyed their desire to see crude prices at around $80 or even $100 a barrel, in part due kingdom's planned IPO of Saudi Aramco, according to a report from Reuters on Wednesday, which cited industry sources.
On Nymex, May gasoline rose 0.5% to $2.077 a gallon, while May heating oil gained 0.6% to $2.102 a gallon.
May natural gas was unchanged at $2.739 per million British thermal units.
— Biman Mukherji contributed to this article