Commercial crude inventories, which analysts expected to climb for the 10th consecutive week, instead fell by 1.8 million barrels, the federal Energy Information Administration reported.
Gasoline stocks, which many analysts had expected to build, fell by 1.5 million barrels, their sixth decline in seven weeks as demand remained strong heading into the summer driving season.
May light, sweet crude futures rose as much as 81 cents on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $53.10 a barrel shortly after the report. Contracts further down the road leapt above $54 and $55.
June Brent futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange jumped as much as $1.16 to $54.10.
Investors were flip-flopping on oil prices as they picked through the details of the inventory report. Crude on Nymex soon dipped into negative territory; despite the government reports' bullish headline numbers, crude-oil inventories remain at the upper end of the average range for this time of year.
Before long, though, prices were on the ascent. May crude recently was up 46 cents at $52.75 a barrel. The June contract, which had heavier volume, rose a sharper 58 cents to $54.15.
Prices could be volatile the rest of the day. Crude inventories actually built on the U.S. Gulf Coast, the heart of the country's refining industry. Without a deep draw on the geographically isolated West Coast, the EIA would have reported a build in crude stocks. Meanwhile, the EIA, the statistics arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, also reported refineries ran harder last week than the one before -- potentially a bearish sign for oil contracts as higher runs ease concerns about tight markets for gasoline this summer.
Hot Metals Cool Wednesday
Metals futures were modestly higher Wednesday, cooling off a bit after the previous session's sharp rally, as copper gained on renewed prospects for strong demand out of China.
Gold for June delivery ticked 70 cents higher to $435.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, marking the benchmark contract's highest price in a month. Gold's advance came as metals traders absorbed an unexpected blip higher in U.S. inflation; the consumer price index's core rate for March rose by a larger-than-anticipated 0.4%.
Meanwhile, China reported strong first-quarter economic growth, precipitating a 1.1% rise in copper on expectations that orders for the industrial metal will stay robust. May copper rallied 1.65 cents to $1.488 a pound, extending Tuesday's 1.8% advance. Rounding out the metals action on the Nymex, May silver added 1.5 cents to $7.265 an ounce, on the heels of a sharp gain of 20.5 cents Tuesday. July platinum added $3.80 to trade at $874 an ounce and June palladium tacked on $2.50 to reach $204.50 an ounce.
According to the latest inventories data compiled by Nymex, copper stood at 33,248 short tons as of the close of business Tuesday, down 894 short tons from the previous day. Gold held steady at 5.93 million troy ounces, as did silver inventories at 103.52 million troy ounces Indexes tracking the mining sector weakened to start before turning flat to higher. The Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index recently was at 90.79 points, unchanged, while the Chicago Board Options Exchange's Gold Index rose 0.2% to 79.26. The Amex Gold Bugs Index gained 0.5% to 194.78.
--Mike Maynard of MarketWatch