Crude oil futures move higher on upbeat US inventory report

Crude oil futures continued their upmove for the third straight session on Wednesday, as the situation in Ukraine continued to escalate after an ambush by pro-Russian separatists resulted in the death of at least seven Ukrainian soldiers. Traders also took support from an upbeat US inventory report, as the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report that US crude oil inventories increased by 947,000 barrels in the week ending May 9. Gasoline stocks dropped by 0.77 million barrels last week, while Inventories of distillate including heating fuel, declined 1.1 million barrels. Total US crude oil inventories stood at 398.5 million barrels as of last week. Benchmark crude oil futures for June delivery gained $0.67 or 0.7 percent to close at $102.37 a barrel after trading in a range of $102.65 and $101.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent oil futures for July delivery were up 0.70 percent to $109.30 a barrel on the ICE.