Topic: Light sweet crude oil up around $3, trading at $72 - $73 range
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, rallied 2.70 dollars to 71.89 dollars. The September contract expires at the close on Wednesday.
The US government's Department of Energy announced earlier that American inventories of crude fell a massive 8.4 million barrels last week, snapping a three-week run of successive gains.
That took oil traders completely by surprise, with the market having expected an increase of 1.5 million barrels. DNB Nor oil analyst Torbjorn Kjus described the report as "bullish," meaning that it would spur oil prices to higher ground.