April 26 Reuters Oil rose on Wednesday after plunging more than 2 in the previous session as reports of falling U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories refocused investors on robust demand in the world39;s top oil consumer.

Brent crude climbed by 40 cents, or 0.5, to 81.17 a barrel by 0723 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 48 cents, or 0.6, to 77.55 a barrel.

U.S. crude oil stocks fell by about 6.1 million barrels in the week ended April 21, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute API figures on Tuesday. Analysts had expected crude inventories to fall by about 1.5 million barrels.

Gasoline inventories fell 1.9 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories rose by 1.7 million barrels, the sources said the API reported. Official stockpiles data from the U.S. government is due on Wednesday.

U.S. crude oil stockpiles have been falling since the middle of March as refineries have increased their runs to produce more gasoline ahead of the peak summer demand period that starts in May. This has pushed WTI futures prices into a backwardation, when prompt futures are higher than later dated futures, reflecting the higher refinery demand.

The higher backwardation jives with the strong utilization rates as refiners are currently boiling a lot of crude oil at a point in the season when gasoline demand is just beginning to rise, said oil analyst Stephen Schork in his Schork Report newsletter.

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