Oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday on signs that demand could strengthen in the United States and China, the world's leading energy consumers.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for April, finished at 45.38 dollars a barrel, a gain of 3.73 dollars from Tuesday's close.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April rallied 2.42 dollars to settle at 46.12 dollars a barrel.
The New York contract, which opened higher, built upward momentum after the US government's weekly report on crude reserves in the world's largest oil consumer.
The US Department of Energy said US stockpiles of crude oil dropped 700,000 barrels during the week ending February 27, instead of the rise of one million barrels forecasted by most analysts.
The increase mainly was led by a pickup in refining activity.
But US crude inventories remained high, 16 percent above their level a year ago.
The DoE data revealed gasoline demand once again climbed over the past four weeks compared with a year ago, further underpinning prices.
"The latest US weekly data show the strongest February week for gasoline demand ever and a further significant improvement in gasoline fundamentals relative to the weakness in the middle of the barrel," Barclays Capital analysts said.
Less encouraging for prices was a rise in stockpiles of gasoline, diesel and heating fuel.
"A mixed report - not really supportive for crude as inventories remained at pretty high levels, clearly bearish for heating oil and diesel, but bullish again for gasoline on demand revival," Michael Wittner at Societe Generale summed up.
Crude prices also found support on hopes of greater demand from China, stoked in part by reports that China will soon announce new additional stimulus actions to boost its sluggish economy.
"Crude prices were higher on increased optimism the Chinese economy would recover swiftly from the current downturn following some positive economic news," Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said.
The Chinese government said manufacturing activity contracted for a fifth straight month in February but the decline slowed, with the data falling just short of the boom-bust line.
The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector rose to 49 in February from 45.3 in January, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
"The Chinese PMI (showed) a marked improvement from the record low of 38.8 in November 2008," Khamar noted. "However, a reading of below 50 still indicates contraction."
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for April, finished at 45.38 dollars a barrel, a gain of 3.73 dollars from Tuesday's close.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April rallied 2.42 dollars to settle at 46.12 dollars a barrel.
The New York contract, which opened higher, built upward momentum after the US government's weekly report on crude reserves in the world's largest oil consumer.
The US Department of Energy said US stockpiles of crude oil dropped 700,000 barrels during the week ending February 27, instead of the rise of one million barrels forecasted by most analysts.
The increase mainly was led by a pickup in refining activity.
But US crude inventories remained high, 16 percent above their level a year ago.
The DoE data revealed gasoline demand once again climbed over the past four weeks compared with a year ago, further underpinning prices.
"The latest US weekly data show the strongest February week for gasoline demand ever and a further significant improvement in gasoline fundamentals relative to the weakness in the middle of the barrel," Barclays Capital analysts said.
Less encouraging for prices was a rise in stockpiles of gasoline, diesel and heating fuel.
"A mixed report - not really supportive for crude as inventories remained at pretty high levels, clearly bearish for heating oil and diesel, but bullish again for gasoline on demand revival," Michael Wittner at Societe Generale summed up.
Crude prices also found support on hopes of greater demand from China, stoked in part by reports that China will soon announce new additional stimulus actions to boost its sluggish economy.
"Crude prices were higher on increased optimism the Chinese economy would recover swiftly from the current downturn following some positive economic news," Sucden analyst Nimit Khamar said.
The Chinese government said manufacturing activity contracted for a fifth straight month in February but the decline slowed, with the data falling just short of the boom-bust line.
The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector rose to 49 in February from 45.3 in January, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
"The Chinese PMI (showed) a marked improvement from the record low of 38.8 in November 2008," Khamar noted. "However, a reading of below 50 still indicates contraction."
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