Crude oil prices Wednesday rose to a record high above $78 a barrel after a large decline in US crude oil inventories signalled a tighter crude market in the second half of the year.
US September West hit an intraday all-time high of $78.77 a barrel on the Nymex, above the previous record of $78.40 a barrel established in July 2006.
US crude oil inventories last week fell 6.5m barrels, or about six times the drop anticipated by Wall Street analysts, to 344.5m barrels as refineries processed the largest crude oil amount in 11 months, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy.
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Crude Oil Prices on High In the US
Crude oil prices Wednesday rose to a record high above $78 a barrel
