Oil futures end higher, buoyed by a fall in weekly petroleum supplies and strength in demand

Oil futures ended higher on Wednesday, with weekly declines in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate supplies and strong overall demand for petroleum lifting U.S. prices to their highest finish in two weeks. The report from the Energy Information Administration "confirmed the tight physical market everyone was expecting," said Manish Raj, chief financial officer at Velandera Energy. The data show overall U.S. petroleum demand in July 2021 is well above the year-ago level and the next several months are likely to "remain tight in crude supplies," despite growing OPEC+ production, he said. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery CLU21, +1.00% climbed by 74 cents, or 1%, to settle at $72.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest front-month finish since July 14, FactSet data show.