Oil jumps as big U.S. gasoline drawdown offsets crude build

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped about 2 percent on Wednesday, with U.S. crude futures returning above $40 a barrel, after the U.S. government reported a larger-than-expected gasoline drawdown that offset a surprise build in crude stockpiles.

U.S. crude inventories rose 1.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for a decrease of 1.4 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Gasoline stocks slumped by 3.3 million barrels, compared with forecasts for a 200,000-barrel drop.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 70 cents at $40.21 a barrel by 10:55 a.m. EDT (1555 GMT). On Tuesday, it settled below $40 a barrel the first time since April.

Brent crude rose 62 cents to $42.42. It hit a more than three-month low of $41.51 in the previous day.

"With spot prices getting under $40 yesterday, we are not surprised to see spot prices rebounding on the gasoline draw. But I think this will be shortlived," said Tariq Zahir, trader in crude oil spreads at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York.

"The bottom line is the Street in the second quarter got a little ahead of itself in calling for rebalancing of supply-demand after Canadian and Nigerian supply disruptions. We are going into the third and fourth quarters with those supplies back online and refinery maintenance coming up."

(Additional reporting by Alex Lawler in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by David Evans and Marguerita Choy)