Crude oil prices climbed above $51 a barrel on Wednesday after U.S. crude inventories fell 1.6 million barrels, the second drop in 15 weeks.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $1.68 to $51.30 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil prices rose more than 4 cents to $1.4320 a gallon, while unleaded gasoline rose more than 3 cents to $1.4590 a gallon. On the International Petroleum Exchange, Brent crude rose $1.40 to $50.22.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s midweek petroleum data showed U.S. commercial crude oil inventories fell 1.6 million barrels to 332.4 million barrels in the week ending May 20 from the previous week. Still, inventories are 32.4 million barrels higher than year-ago levels.
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