Crude-oil prices rallied Wednesday after government data showed shrinking inventories of oil and gasoline last week amid rising demand and falling imports, the Associated Press reports. Energy futures have been propped up in recent months by strong global demand and geopolitical worries such as violence in Nigeria, the war in Iraq and Iran’s diplomatic showdown with the West over its nuclear program.

Light sweet crude for August delivery rose 68 cents to $72.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Over the past four weeks, daily gasoline demand was up 0.9 percent at 9.4 million barrels a day.

Gasoline futures were flat Wednesday at $2.20 a gallon, but they had risen by roughly 20 cents a gallon over the past week in part because of the closure of a key shipping channel along the U.S. Gulf Coast that minimally disrupted crude-oil supplies to nearby oil refineries.

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