Oil extends gains in Asia, US gasoline draw supports prices

Oil prices at both the sides of the Atlantic strengthened in Asia as a surprise draw in the US gasoline stocks came as a relief to oil traders who fear that gasoline glut may derail oil rebalancing.

At the time of writing, US oil was up 28 cents or $41.11/barrel. Brent oil was up 22 cents or 0.51% at $43.32/barrel. Both benchmarks jumped 3% on Wednesday after official data in the US showed gasoline stocks slumped by 3.3 million barrels, versus forecasts for a 200,000-barrel drop.

US Oil inventories rose for a second week in a row, gaining 1.4 million barrels last week. Markets were expecting a decrease of 1.4 million barrels.

However, the oversold oil benchmarks ignored oil inventory rise and jumped on gasoline drawdown.