West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
Brent crude
U.S. crude inventories
Crude inventories had been forecast to rise 1.8 million barrels, as stocks seasonally increase when refineries cut intake to conduct maintenance.
"Weekly EIA data was particularly supportive to WTI considering U.S. and Cushing draws, a boost in crude exports above 2 million bpd and flat crude production," said Anthony Headrick, energy market analyst at CHS Hedging LLC in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.
Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. futures
"The reason that the inventories continue to drop at Cushing is because the market remains backwardated and therefore it's uneconomical to be storing crude," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, Texas.
In a market structure called backwardation, prompt crude prices are higher than forward prices, discouraging storage.
"It makes more sense to liquidate your on-hand inventories," Lipow said.
U.S. net crude imports
Exports of U.S. crude jumped to just above 2 million bpd, close to a record 2.1 million hit in October. That helped push net imports to the lowest level on record.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the largest privately owned crude terminal in the United States, completed the first very large crude carrier (VLCC) crude oil loading operation at its deepwater port, the company said on Sunday. The supertankers can ship about 2 million barrels of oil.
Oil prices were also supported as the dollar <.DXY> declined from an eight-day peak. A weaker dollar makes oil and other dollar-denominated commodities cheaper for holders of other currencies.
The correlation between moves in the oil price and the dollar has strengthened in recent weeks, as investors increasingly sell other assets to buy the U.S. currency on expectations of a faster pace of rate rises.
(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Amanda Cooper in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
By Stephanie Kelly