The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery added 96 cents to settle at 69.25 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery increased 81 cents to close at 71.44 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 0.4 million barrels during the week ending Aug. 6, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report on Wednesday.
At 438.8 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories were about 6 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
According to the EIA, total motor gasoline inventories decreased by 1.4 million barrels last week, while distillate fuel inventories increased by 1.8 million barrels.
In its Short-term Energy Outlook published on Tuesday, the EIA said the U.S. gasoline demand was higher than expected between May and July.
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