Early on Wednesday, WTI crude oil prices are on the rise, supported by the release of the API report in the previous session which revealed a larger than expected drawdown in US crude stockpiles. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is trading at around $41.79 per barrel.

According to the API report, US crude inventories declined by 5.1 million barrels to 482 million barrels over the past week. Economists had forecast a smaller decline of 913k barrels instead, and the greater decline raised hopes of improvement in the demand for crude oil across the world’s largest energy consumer.

In addition, gasoline inventories also fell by 3.3 million barrels, while the forecast was for a decline by 263k barrels instead. Stockpiles of distillates also saw a larger than expected decline, falling by 5.6 million barrels against expectations for a 1.9 million barrel for instead.

The positive sentiment in oil markets also remains supported by promising news about Pfizer’s vaccine against COVID-19, with an efficiency rate of over 90%. The rollout of a vaccine is expected to not only stem the downturn in the global economy but also help crude oil demand recover around the world.