Mubasher: Oil prices rose on Wednesday owing to a more-than-expected drop in the US crude stockpiles last week, Reuters reported.

By 7:20 am GMT, US Nymex crude futures jumped by 0.82% to $57.87 per barrel (pb), while global benchmark Brent futures climbed by 0.75% to $62.85 pb.

Crude prices settled lower on Tuesday, driven by the speculated return of Iranian barrels to the market, after US President Donald Trump fired security adviser John Bolton, known for his hawkish stance towards Tehran.

Re-instated US sanctions against the oil-rich nation have slashed its shipments by more than 80%.

However, they recovered after industry-funded American Petroleum Institute (API) reported that US crude inventories fell by 7.2 million barrels in the week to 6 September to 421.9 million, versus analysts’ forecasts of a decline of 2.7 million barrels, according to a Reuters report.

In addition, gasoline inventories went down by 4.5 million barrels, compared with an expected drawdown of 847,000 barrels the API said.