Oil Settles Higher Following Fluctuations

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, after fluctuating throughout the session as data showed another large increase in crude inventories in the United States, alongside huge drops in gasoline and distillate stockpiles.

Brent crude futures for May delivery finished higher by 38 cents, or 0.6%, at $67.90 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for April delivery gained 43 cents, or 0.7%, and closed at $64.44 per barrel.

U.S. crude oil inventories increased more than expected last week, data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed earlier today. Oil stockpiles rose by 13.798 million barrels in the week ended on March 5, compared with a recent S&P Global Platts poll of market analysts that estimated that oil inventories increased last week by 2.7 million barrels, following a huge surge of 21.6 million barrels in the week before.

Distillate inventories declined by fell 5.5 million barrels, while gasoline stockpiles decreased by 11.869 million barrels.