Analysts surveyed by Platts expected a rise of 1.1 million barrels in crude stocks. After the data, September oil futures jumped to an intraday high of $71.35 a barrel on Globex. The contract was last up $1.20, or 1.7%, to $70.33 a barrel. Before the supplies data, the contract traded near $69.45 a barrel. "With the equity markets coming off their lows and the dollar showing weakness, today definitely gives the bulls the upper hand," said Tariq Zahir, managing member of Tyche Capital Advisors LLC. "The draw in crude inventories breaks the trend for the last few weeks and we feel is a temporary factor," he said in emailed comments. "This draw in inventories looks to be caused by a decrease in imports and [we] do not feel this is a start of a new trend." The Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude stocks fell by 8.4 million barrels to 343.6 million barrels during the week ended Aug. 14. The data confirmed a big draw reported by the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday. The API said crude supplies declined by 6.1 million barrels last week. The EIA also reported that motor gasoline inventories fell by 2.1 million barrels and distillate stocks decreased by 700,000 barrels. The analysts polled by Platts had projected a decline of 1.7 million barrels in gasoline stocks as well as a build of 800,000 barrels in distillate stocks. On Wall Street, stocks posted losses, with the S&P 500 index (SPX 988.78, -0.89, -0.09%) falling 0.2% to 987 points. Overnight, China's top stock markets suffered steep declines, with the Shanghai Composite Index falling 4.3% and the Shenzhen Composite Index ending down 4.9%. A China-led fall by global equity markets boosted the Japanese yen and provided a modest lift for the dollar, as investors moved toward assets perceived as less risky. Oil futures rallied 3.6% on Tuesday, as the U.S. dollar fell against most of its rivals, and as Wall Street stocks posted gains, buoying sentiment in the energy market after two days of declines. See full story. Also on Globex, September reformulated gasoline rose 0.5% to $2.0097 a gallon and September heating oil gained 0.7% to $1.8785 a gallon. Natural-gas futures rebound from 7-year low September natural-gas futures gained 0.6% to $3.115 per million British thermal units. On Tuesday, the contract fell 6.70 cents to end at $3.096 per million British thermal units, posting its lowest closing level since Aug. 14, 2002, when the front-month contract settled at $2.910 per million British thermal units, according to historical data from the CME Group. "If the market does hold the $3.00 mark through expiration next week it will reveal an inherent strength that will no doubt surprise many and may ignite a short-covering rally," said John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy at MF Global. "If, though, the market breaches $3.00 quite easily, it may generate considerable selling momentum," Kilduff wrote in a note to clients. The EIA will report data on natural-gas supplies on Thursday morning. IHS Global Insight is projecting a storage build of 55 billion cubic feet for the week ended August 14.

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