FX.co ★ Oil Futures Rebound From Recent Losses, Settle Sharply Higher

Crude oil futures settled higher on Thursday, regaining ground after two successive days of losses, despite data showing an unexpected increase in U.S. crude supplies last week.

Data showing a decline in gasoline supply last week, and the dollar's weakness supported oil prices.

Oil supply disruptions at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which has been told by a Russian court to suspend activity for 30 days, contributed a bit to the jump in oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $4.20 or about 4.3% at $102.73 a barrel.

Natural gas contracts for August soared $0.79 or about 14.3% to $6.297 per mln Btus.

Brent crude futures were up $4.04 or about 4% at $104.73 a barrel a little while ago.

Data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose by 8.2 million barrels in the week ended July 1.

The EIA data showed gasoline supplies dropped by 2.5 million barrels in the week, while distillate stockpiles fell by 1.3 million barrels.

The EIA data also showed oil stocks in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 492 million barrels, from 497.9 million barrels from a week earlier.

A report from the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday showed U.S. crude supplies increased by 3.8 million barrels last week.