Singapore, May 24 (BNA): Oil prices pared gains on Wednesday but still offered strong bids.
Brent crude futures rose in the latest trading by 74 cents, or 1%, to $77.58 a barrel by 0645 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 84 cents, or 1.2%, to $73.75 a barrel.
Brent rose earlier by $1.03 to $77.87 a barrel. Reuters said that West Texas Intermediate crude jumped as much as $ 1.07 to $ 73.98 a barrel.
Oil prices were also boosted by industry data late Tuesday which showed that US crude oil and fuel inventories fell sharply.
Crude stocks fell by about 6.8 million barrels in the week ending May 19, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures. Gasoline inventories decreased by 6.4 million, while distillate inventories decreased by 1.8 million.
ZHB